TheBallcS/Tire 


George  Randolph 
Chester  and 
billianChester 


The  Ball  of  Fire 


&2M&  M  CALIF.  LUBRAKY.  LOS  ANGELES 


For  an  instant  the  brown  eyes  and  the  blue  ones  met 


The  Ball  of  Fire 


By 
George   Randolph   Chester 

and 

Lillian  Chester 


Illustrated 


Hearst's    International    Library    Co. 
New  York  1914 


Copyright,   1914,  by 
THK   RID  BOOK  CORPORATION 

Copyright,   1914,  by 
HBABST'S  INTERNATIONAL  LIBRARY  Co.,  Ixo. 

All  Righti   reserved,   including   the   trantlation  into   foreign 
language*,  including  the  Scandinavian, 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I     No  PLACE  FOR  SENTIMENT 1 

II     "WHY?" 9 

III  THE  CHANGE  IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES 22 

IV  Too  MANY  MEN 35 

V  EDWARD  E.  ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION   ....     47 

VI  THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN  FROM  HOME     ...     59 

VII     THEY  HAD  ALREADY  SPOILED  HER! 70 

VIII     STILL  PIECING  OUT  THE  WORLD 80 

IX     THE  MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR 88 

X  THE  STORM  CENTER  OF  MAGNETIC  ATTRACTION   .      .     98 

XI  "GENTLEMEN,  THERE  is  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       .      .      .   Ill 

XII  GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM  OF  VEDDER  COURT       .      .  123 

XIII  THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST 135 

XIV  THE  FREE  AND  ENTIRELY  UNCURBED 150 

XV     BUT  WHY  WAS  SHE  LONESOME? 158 

XVI     GAIL  AT  HOME 167 

XVII  SOMETHING  HAPPENS  TO  GERALD  FOSLAND     .      .      .   178 

XVIII     THE  MESSABE  FROM  NEW  YORK 187 

XIX    THE  RECTOR  KNOWS 199 

XX     THE  BREED  OF  GAIL 212 

XXI     THE  PUBLIC  is  AROUSED 221 

XXII     THE  REV.  SMITH  BOYD  PROTESTS 231 

XXIII  A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  .                                                   .  240 


2126289 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXIV     THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS 250 

XXV     A  QUESTION  OF  EUGEKICS 262 

XXVI     AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPHESS 271 

XXVII  ALLISON'S  PRIVATE  AND  PARTICULAR  DEVIL     .      .      .   281 

XXVIII     LOVE 289 

XXIX     GAIL  FIRST! 299 

XXX     THE  FLUTTER  OF  A  SHEET  OF  Music 309 

XXXI     GAIL  BREAKS  A  PROMISE 315 

XXXII     GERALD  FOSLAND  MAKES  A  SPEECH 325 

XXXIII  CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK? 334 

XXXIV  A  MATTER  OF  CONSCIENCE 344 

XXXV     A  VESTRY  MEETING 353 

XXXVI  HAND  IN  HAND                                                                  .  362 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


For  an  instant  the  brown  eyes  and  the  blue  ones 

met Frontispiece 

FACING 
PAGE 

At  7:15  Ephraim  found  him  at  the  end  of  the  table  in 

the  midst  of  some  neat  and  intricate  tabulations  .      51 


She  was  glad  to  be  alone,  to  rescue  herself  from  the 
whirl  of  anger  and  indignation  and  humiliation 
which  had  swept  around  her 109 

She  telephoned  that  she  was  going  to  remain  with  Al 
lison;  and  they  enjoyed  a  two  hour  chat  of  many 
things 278 


The  Ball  of  Fire 


The  Ball  of  Fire 

CHAPTER  I 

NO    PLACE    FOR    SENTIMENT 

SILENCE  pervaded  the  dim  old  aisles  of  Market 
Square  Church;  a  silence  which  seemed  to  be  pal 
pable  ;  a  solemn  hush  which  wavered ,  like  the  ghostly 
echoes  of  anthems  long  forgotten,  among  the  slender 
columns  and  the  high  arches  and  the  delicate  tracery 
of  the  groining;  the  winter  sun,  streaming  through  the 
clerestory  windows,  cast,  on  the  floor  and  on  the  vacant 
benches,  patches  of  ruby  and  of  sapphire,  of  emerald 
and  of  topaz ,  these  seeming  only  to  accentuate  the  dim 
ness  and  the  silence. 

A  thin,  wavering,  treble  note,  so  delicate  that  it 
seemed  like  a  mere  invisible  cobweb  of  a  tone,  stole  out 
of  the  organ  loft  and  went  pulsing  up  amid  the  dim 
arches.  It  grew  in  volume ;  it  added  a  diapason ;  a 
deep,  soft  bass  joined  it,  and  then,  subdued,  but  throb 
bing  with  the  passion  of  a  lost  soul,  it  swelled  into  one 
of  the  noble  preludes  of  Bach.  The  organ  rose  in  a 
mighty  crescendo  to  a  peal  which  shook  the  very  edi 
fice;  then  it  stopped  with  an  abruptness  which  was 
uncanny,  so  much  so  that  the  silence  which  ensued  was 
oppressive.  In  that  silence  the  vestry  door  creaked, 
it  opened  wide,  and  it  was  as  if  a  vision  had  suddenly 
been  set  there !  Framed  in  the  dark  doorway  against 


2  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  background  of  the  sun-flooded  vestry,  bathed  in 
the  golden  light  from  the  transept  window,  brown- 
haired,  brown-eyed,  rosy-cheeked,  stood  a  girl  who 
might  have  been  one  of  the  slender  stained-glass  vir 
gins  come  to  life,  the  golden  light  flaming  the  edges 
of  her  hair  into  an  oriole.  She  stood  timidly,  peering 
into  the  dimness,  and  on  her  beautifully  curved  lips 
was  a  half  questioning  smile. 

"  Uncle  Jim,"  she  called,  and  there  was  some  quality 
in  her  low  voice  which  was  strangely  attractive;  and 
disturbing. 

"  By  George,  Gail,  I  forgot  that  you  were  to  come 
for  me !  "  said  Jim  Sargent,  rising  from  amid  the  group 
of  men  in  the  dim  transept.  "  The  decorators  drove 
us  out  of  the  vestry." 

"  They  drove  me  out,  too,"  laughed  the  vision,  step 
ping  from  her  frame. 

"  We  are  delighted  that  they  drove  you  in  here," 
quoth  the  tall,  young  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  who  had 
accomplished  the  rare  art  of  bowing  gracefully  in  a 
Prince  Albert. 

She  smiled  her  acknowledgment  of  the  compliment, 
and  glanced  uncertainly  at  the  awe-inspiring  vestry 
meeting,  then  she  turned  toward  the  door. 

"  My  niece,  Miss  Gail  Sargent,  gentlemen,"  an 
nounced  Jim  Sargent,  with  entirely  justifiable  pride, 
and,  beaming  until  his  bald  spot  seemed  to  glow  with 
an  added  shine,  he  introduced  her  to  each  of  the  gen 
tlemen  present,  with  the  exception  of  Smith  Boyd,  whom 
she  had  met  that  morning. 

"  What  a  pity  Saint  Paul  didn't  see  you,"  remarked 
silver-bearded  Rufus  Manning,  calmly  appropriating 
the  vision  and  ushering  her  into  the  pew  between  himself 
and  her  uncle.  "  He  never  would  have  said  it." 


NO  PLACE  FOR  SENTIMENT  3 

"  That  women  should  not  sit  in  council  with  the 
men?  "  she  laughed,  looking  into  the  blue  eyes  of  patri 
archal  Manning.  "  Are  you  sure  I  won't  be  in  the 
way?" 

"  Not  at  all,"  round-headed  old  Nicholas  Van  Ploon 
immediately  assured  her.  He  had  popped  his  eyes 
open  with  a  jerk  at  the  entrance  of  Gail,  and  had  not 
since  been  able  to  close  them  to  their  normal  almond 
shape.  He  sat  now  uncomfortably  twisted  so  that  he 
could  face  her,  and  his  cheeks  were  reddening  with  the 
exertion,  which  had  wrinkled  his  roundly  filled  vest. 
The  young  rector  contemplated  her  gravely.  He  was 
not  quite  pleased. 

"  We'll  be  through  in  a  few  minutes,  Gail,"  promised 
Jim  Sargent.  "  Allison,  you  were  about  to  prove  some 
thing  to  us,  I  think,"  and  he  leaned  forward  to  smile 
across  Gail  at  Rufus  Manning. 

"  Prove  is  the  right  word,"  agreed  the  stockily  built 
man  who  had  evidently  been  addressing  the  vestry. 
He  was  acutely  conscious  of  the  presence  of  Gail,  as 
they  all  were.  "  Your  rector  suggests  that  this  is  a 
matter  of  sentiment.  You  are  anxious  to  have  fifty 
million  dollars  to  begin  the  erection  of  a  cathedral ; 
but  I  came  here  to  talk  business,  and  that  only.  Grant 
ing  you  the  full  normal  appreciation  of  your  Vedder 
Court  property,  and  the  normal  increase  of  your  ag 
gregate  rentals,  you  can  not  have,  at  the  end  of  ten 
years,  a  penny  over  forty-two  millions.  I  am  prepared 
to  offer  you,  in  cash,  a  sum  which  will,  at  three  and  a 
half  per  cent.,  and  in  ten  years,  produce  that  exact 
amount.  To  this  I  add  two  million." 

"  How  much  did  you  allow  for  increase  in  the  value 
of  the  property?"  asked  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  whose 
only  knowledge  for  several  generations  had  been  cen- 


4  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tred  on  this  one  question.  The  original  Van  Ploon  had 
3ught  a  vast  tract  of  Manhattan  for  a  dollar  an  acre, 
and,  by  that  stroke  of  towering  genius,  had  placed  the 
family  of  Van  Ploon,  for  all  eternity,  beyond  the  neces 
sity  of  thought. 

For  answer,  Allison  passed  him  the  envelope  upon 
which  he  had  been  figuring,  checking  off  an  item  as  he 
did  so.  He  noticed  that  Gail's  lips  twitched  with  sup 
pressed  mirth.  She  turned  abruptly  to  look  back  at 
the  striking  transept  window,  and  the  three  vestrymen 
in  the  rear  pew  immediately  sat  straighter.  Willis  Cun 
ningham,  who  was  a  bachelor,  hastily  smoothed  his  Van 
dyke.  He  was  so  rich,  by  inheritance,  that  money 
meant  nothing  to  him. 

"Not  enough,"  grunted  Van  Ploon,  handing  back 
the  envelope,  and  twisting  again  in  the  general  direc 
tion  of  Gail. 

"  Ample,"  retorted  Allison.  «  You  can't  count  any 
thing  for  the  buildings.  While  I  don't  deny  that  they 
yield  the  richest  income  of  any  property  in  the  city, 
they  are  the  most  decrepit  tenements  in  New  York' 
They'll  fall  down  in  less  than  ten  years.  You  have 
them  propped  up  now." 

Jim  Sargent  glanced  solicitously  at  Gail,  but  she  did 
not  seem  to  be  bored ;  not  a  particle ! 

'  They  are  passed  by  the  building  inspector  annu- 
illj,     pompously  stated  W.  T.   Chisholm,  his  mutton 
iops  turning  pink  from  the  reddening  of  the  skin  be 
neath.     He  had  spent  a  lifetime  in  resenting  indigni 
ties  before  they  reached  him. 

:  Building    inspectors    change,"    insinuated    Allison. 
Politics  is  very  uncertain." 

Four  indignant  vestrymen  jerked  forward  to  answer 
that  insult. 


NO  PLACE  FOR  SENTIMENT  5 

"  Gentlemen,  this  is  a  vestry  meeting,"  sternly  re 
proved  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  advancing  a  step, 
and  seeming  to  feel  the  need  of  a  gavel.  His  rich,  deep 
barytone  explained  why  he  was  rector  of  the  richest 
church  in  the  world. 

Gail's  eyes  were  dancing,  but  otherwise  she  was  de- 
mureness  itself  as  she  studied,  in  turns,  the  members 
of  the  richest  vestry  in  the  world.  She  estimated  that 
eight  of  the  gentlemen  then  present  were  almost  close 
enough  to  the  anger  line  to  swear.  They  numbered 
just  eight,  and  they  were  most  interesting!  And  this 
was  a  vestry  meeting! 

"  The  topic  of  debate  was  money,  I  believe,"  sug 
gested  Manning,  rescuing  his  sense  of  humour  from 
somewhere  in  his  beard.  He  was  the  infidel  member. 
"  Suppose  we  return  to  it.  Is  Allison's  offer  worth 
considering?  " 

"  Why  ?  "  inquired  the  nasal  voice  of  clean-shaven 
old  Joseph  G.  Clark,  who  was  sarcastic  in  money  mat 
ters.  The  Standard  Cereal  Company  had  attained  its 
colossal  dimensions  through  rebates ;  and  he  had  in 
vented  the  device !  "  The  only  reason  we'd  sell  to  Al 
lison  would  be  that  we  could  get  more  money  than  by 
the  normal  return  from  our  investment." 

The  thinly  spun  treble  note  began  once  more,  pulsing 
its  timid  way  among  the  high,  dim  arches,  as  if  seeking 
a  lodgment  where  it  might  fasten  its  tiny  thread  of 
harmony,  and  grow  into  a  masterful  composition.  A 
little  old  lady  came  slowly  down  the  centre  aisle  of  the 
nave,  in  rich  but  modest  black,  struggling,  against  her 
infirmities,  to  walk  with  a  trace  of  the  erect  graceful 
ness  of  her  bygone  youth.  Gail,  listening  raptly  to  the 
delicately  increasing  throb  of  the  music,  followed,  in 
abstraction,  the  slow  progress  of  the  little  old  lady,  who 


6  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

seemed  to  carry  with  her,  for  just  a  moment,  a  trace 
of  the  solemn  hush  belonging  to  that  perspective  of 
slender  columns  which  spread  their  gracefully  pointed 
arches  up  into  the  groined  twilight,  where  the  music 
hovered  until  it  could  gather  strength  to  burst  into 
full  song.  The  little  old  lady  turned  her  gaze  for  an 
instant  to  the  group  in  the  transept,  and  subcon 
sciously  gave  the  folds  of  her  veil  a  touch ;  then  she 
slipped  into  her  pew,  down  near  the  altar,  and  raised 
her  eyes  to  the  exquisite  Henri  Dupres  crucifix.  She 
knelt,  and  bowed  her  forehead  on  her  hands. 

"  I've  allowed  two  million  for  the  profit  of  Market 
Square  Church  in  dealing  with  me,"  stated  Allison, 
again  proffering  the  envelope  which  no  one  made  a 
move  to  take.  "  I  will  not  pay  a  dollar  more." 

W.  T.  Chisholm  was  suddenly  reminded  that  the  ves 
try  had  a  moral  obligation  in  the  matter  under  discus 
sion.  He  was  president  of  the  Majestic  Trust  Com 
pany,  and  never  forgot  that  fact. 

"  To  what  use  would  you  devote  the  property  of  Mar 
ket  Square  Church  ?  "  he  gravely  asked. 

"  The  erection  of  a  terminal  station  for  all  the  muni 
cipal  transportation  in  New  York,"  answered  Allison ; 
"  subways,  elevateds,  surface  cars,  traction  lines !  The 
proposition  should  have  the  hearty  co-operation  of 
every  citizen." 

Simple  little  idea,  wasn't  it?  Gail  had  to  think  suc 
cessively  to  comprehend  what  a  stupendous  enterprise 
this  was ;  and  the  man  talked  about  it  as  modestly  as 
if  he  were  planning  to  sod  a  lawn ;  more  so !  Why,  back 
home,  if  a  man  dreamed  a  dream  so  vast  as  that,  he 
just  talked  about  it  for  the  rest  of  his  life;  and  they 
put  a  poet's  wreath  on  his  tombstone. 

"  Now  you're   talking  sentiment,"   retorted   stubby- 


NO  PLACE  FOR  SENTIMENT  7 

moustached  Jim  Sargent.  "  You  said,  a  while  ago,  that 
you  came  here  strictly  on  business.  So  did  we.  This 
is  no  place  for  sentiment." 

Rufus  Manning,  with  the  tip  of  his  silvery  beard  in 
his  fingers,  looked  up  into  the  delicate  groining  of  the 
apse,  where  it  curved  gracefully  forward  over  the  head 
of  the  famous  Henri  Dupres  crucifix,  and  he  grinned. 
Gail  Sargent  was  looking  contemplatively  from  one  to 
the  other  of  the  grave  vestrymen. 

"  You're  right,"  conceded  Allison  curtly.  "  Suppose 
you  fellows  talk  it  over  by  yourselves,  and  let  me  know 
your  best  offer." 

"  Very  well,"  assented  Jim  Sargent,  with  an  indif 
ference  which  did  not  seem  to  be  assumed.  "  We  have 
some  other  matters  to  discuss,  and  we  may  as  well 
thrash  this  thing  out  right  now.  We'll  let  you  know 
to-morrow." 

Gail  looked  at  her  watch  and  rose  energetically. 

"  I  shall  be  late  at  Lucile's,  Uncle  Jim.  I  don't  think 
I  can  wait  for  you." 

"  I'm  sorry,"  regretted  Sargent.  "  I  don't  like  to 
have  you  drive  around  alone." 

"  I'll  be  very  happy  to  take  Miss  Sargent  anywhere 
she'd  like  to  go,"  offered  Allison,  almost  instantane 
ously. 

"  Much  obliged,  Allison,"  accepted  Sargent  heartily ; 
"  that  is,  if  she'll  go  with  you." 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Gail  simply,  as  she  stepped  out 
of  the  pew. 

The  gentlemen  of  the  vestry  rose  as  one  man.  Old 
Nicholas  Van  Ploon  even  attempted  to  stand  gracefully 
on  one  leg,  while  his  vest  bulged  over  the  back  of  the 
pew  in  front  of  him. 

"  I  think  we'll  have  to  make  you  a  permanent  member 


8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

of  the  vestry,"  smiled  Manning,  the  patriarch,  as  he 
bowed  his  adieus.  "  We've  been  needing  a  brightening 
influence  for  some  time." 

Willis  Cunningham,  the  thoughtful  one,  wedged  his 
Vandyke  between  the  heads  of  Standard  Cereal  Clark 
and  Banker  Chisholm. 

"  We  hope  to  see  you  often,  Miss  Sargent,"  was  his 
thoughtful  remark. 

"  I  mean  to  attend  services,"  returned  Gail  graciously, 
looking  up  into  the  organ  loft,  where  the  organist  was 
making  his  third  attempt  at  that  baffling  run  in  the 
Bach  prelude. 

"  You  haven't  said  how  you  like  our  famous  old 
church,"  suggested  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  with 
pleasant  ease,  though  he  felt  relieved  that  she  was  going. 

The  sudden  snap  in  Gail's  eyes  fairly  scintillated. 
It  was  like  the  shattering  of  fine  glass  in  the  sunlight. 

"  It  seems  to  be  a  remarkably  lucrative  enterprise," 
she  smiled  up  at  him,  and  was  rewarded  by  a  snort  from 
Uncle  Jim  and  a  chuckle  from  silvery-bearded  Rufus 
Manning.  Allison  frankly  guffawed.  The  balance  of 
the  sedate  vestry  was  struck  dumb  by  the  impertinence. 

Gail  felt  the  eyes  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  fixed 
steadily  on  her,  and  turned  to  meet  them.  They  were 
cold.  She  had  thought  them  blue;  but  now  they  were 
green !  She  stared  back  into  them  for  a  moment,  and 
a  little  red  spot  came  into  the  delicate  tint  of  her  oval 
cheeks;  then  she  turned  deliberately  to  the  marvellously 
beautiful  big  transept  window.  It  had  been  designed 
by  the  most  famous  stained-glass  artist  in  the  world, 
and  its  subject  lent  itself  to  a  wealth  of  colour.  It  was 
Christ  turning  the  money  changers  out  of  the  temple ! 


CHAPTER  II 

"WHY?" 

!"  exclaimed  Gail  in  delight,  turning  up 
her  face  to  the  delicate  flakes.  "  And  the  sun 
shining.  That  means  snow  to-morrow !  " 

Allison  helped  her  into  his  big,  piratical  looking  run 
about,  and  tucked  her  in  as  if  she  were  some  fragile 
hot-house  plant  which  might  freeze  with  the  first  cool 
draught.  He  looked,  with  keen  appreciation,  at  her 
fresh  cheeks  and  sparkling  eyes  and  softly  waving  hair. 
He  had  never  given  himself  much  time  for  women,  but 
this  girl  was  a  distinct  individual.  It  was  not  her 
undeniable  beauty  which  he  found  so  attractive.  He 
had  met  many  beautiful  women.  Nor  was  it  charm  of 
manner,  nor  the  thing  called  personal  magnetism,  nor 
the  intelligence  which  gleamed  from  her  eyes.  It  was 
something  intangible  and  baffling  which  had  chained 
his  interest  from  the  moment  she  had  appeared  in  the 
vestry  doorway,  and  since  he  was  a  man  who  had  never 
admitted  the  existence  of  mysteries,  his  own  perplexity 
puzzled  him. 

"  The  pretty  white  snow  is  no  friend  of  mine," 
he  assured  her,  as  he  took  the  wheel  and  headed  towards 
the  Avenue.  He  looked  calculatingly  into  the  sky. 
"  This  particular  downfall  is  likely  to  cost  the  Munici 
pal  Transportation  Company  several  thousand  dol 
lars." 

"  I'm  curious  to  know  the  commercial  value  of  a  sun- 

9 


10  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

set  in  New  York,"  Gail  smiled  up  at  him.  Her  eyes 
closed  for  a  swift  instant,  her  long,  brown  lashes  curv 
ing  down  on  her  cheeks,  but  beneath  them  was  an  in 
finitesimal  gleam ;  and  Allison  had  the  impression  that 
under  the  cover  of  her  exquisitely  veined  lids  she  was 
looking  at  him  corner-wise,  and  having  a  great  deal 
of  fun  all  by  herself. 

"  We  haven't  capitalised  sunsets  yet,  but  we  have 
hopes,"  he  laughed. 

"  Then  there's  still  a  commercial  opportunity,"  she 
lightly  returned.  "  I  feel  quite  friendly  to  money,  but 
it's  so  intimate  here.  I've  heard  nothing  else  since  I 
came,  on  Monday." 

"  Even  in  church,"  he  chuckled.  "  You  delivered  a 
reckless  shock  to  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  vestry." 

"Well?"  she  demanded.  "Didn't  he  ask  my  opin 
ion?" 

"  I  don't  think  he'll  make  the  mistake  again,"  and 
Allison  took  the  corner  into  the  Avenue  at  a  speed 
which  made  Gail,  unused  to  bare  inches  of  leeway,  class 
Allison  as  a  demon  driver.  The  tall  traffic  policeman 
around  whose  upraised  arm  they  had  circled  smiled  a 
frank  tribute  to  her  beauty,  and  she  felt  relieved.  She 
had  cherished  some  feeling  that  they  should  be  arrested. 

"  However,  even  a  church  must  discuss  money,"  went 
on  Allison,  as  if  he  had  just  decided  a  problem  to  which 
he  had  given  weighty  thought. 

"  Fifty  millions  isn't  mere  money,"  retorted  Gail ; 
"  it's  criminal  wealth.  If  no  man  can  make  a  million 
dollars  honestly,  how  can  a  church  ?  " 

Allison  swerved  out  into  the  centre  of  the  Avenue  and 
passed  a  red  limousine  before  he  answered.  He  had 
noticed  that  everybody  in  the  street  stared  into  his  car, 


"WHY?"  11 

and  it  flattered  him  immensely  to  have  so  pretty  a  girl 
with  him. 

"  The  wealth  of  Market  Square  Church  is  natural 
and  normal,"  he  explained.  "  It  arises  partly  from  the 
increase  in  value  of  property  which  was  donated  when 
practically  worthless.  Judicious  investment  is  respon 
sible  for  the  balance." 

"  Oh,  bother !  "  and  Gail  glanced  at  him  impatiently. 
"  Your  natural  impulse  is  to  defend  wealth  because  it  is 
wealth  ;  but  you  know  that  Market  Square  Church  never 
should  have  had  a  surplus  to  invest.  The  money  should 
have  been  spent  in  charity.  Why  are  they  saving  it?  " 

Allison  began  to  feel  the  same  respect  for  Gail's  men 
tal  processes  which  he  would  for  a  man's,  though,  when 
he  looked  at  her  with  this  thought  in  mind,  she  was  so 
thoroughly  feminine  that  she  puzzled  him  more  than 
ever. 

"  Market  Square  Church  has  an  ambition  worthy  of 
its  vestry,"  he  informed  her,  bringing  his  runabout  to 
rest,  with  a  swift  glide,  just  an  accurate  three  inches 
behind  the  taxi  in  front  of  them.  "  When  it  has  fifty 
million  dollars,  it  proposes  to  start  building  the  most 
magnificent  cathedral  on  American  soil." 

Gail  watched  the  up-town  traffic  piling  around  them, 
wedging  them  in,  packing  them  tightly  on  all  sides,  and 
felt  that  they  must  be  hours  in  extricating  themselves 
from  this  tangle  of  shining-bodied  vehicles.  The  skies 
had  turned  grey  by  now,  and  the  snow  was  thicker  in 
the  air.  The  flakes  drove,  with  a  cool,  refreshing  snap, 
into  her  face. 

"Why?"  she  pondered.  "Will  a  fifty  million  dol 
lar  cathedral  save  souls  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of 
money  invested?  " 


12  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Allison  enjoyed  that  query  thoroughly. 

"  You  must  ask  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,"  he 
chuckled.  "  You  talk  like  a  heathen !  " 

"  I  am,"  she  calmly  avowed.  "  I've  heen  a  heathen 
ever  since  a  certain  respectable  old  religious  body 
dropped  the  theory  of  infant  damnation  from  its  creed. 
Its  body  of  elders  decided  to  save  the  souls  of  unbap- 
tised  babies  from  everlasting  hell-fire ;  and  the  anti- 
damnation  wing  won  by  three  grey-whiskered  votes." 

Proper  ladies  in  the  nearby  cars  stared  with  haughty 
disapproval  at  Allison,  whose  degree  of  appreciation 
necessitated  a  howl.  Gail,  however,  did  not  join  in  the 
mirth.  That  telltale  red  spot  had  appeared  in  the  deli 
cate  pink  of  her  cheeks.  She  was  still  angry  with  the 
man-made  creed  which  had  taught  a  belief  so  horrible. 
The  traffic  blockade  was  lifted,  and  Allison's  clutch 
slammed.  The  whole  mass  of  vehicles  moved  forwards, 
and  in  two  blocks  up  the  Avenue  they  had  scattered  like 
chaff.  Allison  darted  into  an  opening  between  two 
cars,  his  runabout  skidded,  and  missed  a  little  electric 
by  a  hair's  breadth.  He  had  no  personal  interest  in 
religion,  but  he  had  in  Gail. 

"  So  you  turned  infidel." 

"  Oh  no,"  returned  Gail  gravely,  and  with  a  new  tone. 
"  I  pray  every  morning  and  every  night,  and  God  hears 
me."  The  note  of  reverence  in  her  voice  was  a  thing 
to  which  Allison  gave  instant  respect.  "  I  have  no 
quarrel  with  religion,  only  with  theology.  I  attend 
church  because  its  spiritual  influence  has  survived  in 
spite  of  outgrown  rites.  I  take  part  in  the  services, 
though  I  will  not  repeat  the  creed.  Why,  Mr.  Allison, 
I  love  the  church,  and  the  most  notable  man  in  the  fu 
ture  history  of  the  world  will  be  the  man  who  saves  it 
from  dead  dogma."  Her  eyes  were  glowing,  the  same 


"WHY1?"  13 

eyes  which  had  closed  in  satirical  mischief.  Now  they 
were  rapt.  "  What  a  stunning  collie !  "  she  suddenly 
exclaimed. 

Allison,  who  had  followed  her  with  admiring  atten 
tion,  his  mind  accompanying  hers  in  eager  leaps, 
laughed  in  relief.  After  all,  she  was  a  girl  —  and  what 
a  girl !  The  exhilaration  of  the  drive,  and  of  the  snow 
beating  in  her  face,  and  of  the  animated  conversation, 
had  set  the  clear  skin  of  her  face  aglow  with  colour. 
Her  deep  red  lips,  exquisitely  curved  and  half  parted, 
displayed  a  row  of  dazzling  white  teeth,  and  the  elbow 
which  touched  his  was  magnetic.  Allison  refused  to 
believe  that  he  was  forty-five! 

"  You're  fond  of  collies,"  he  guessed,  surprised  to  find 
himself  with  an  eager  interest  in  the  likes  and  dislikes 
of  a  young  girl.  It  was  a  new  experience. 

"  I  adore  them ! "  she  enthusiastically  declared. 
"  Back  home,  I  have  one  of  every  marking  but  a  pure 
white." 

There  was  something  tender  and  wistful  in  the  tone 
of  that  "  back  home."  No  doubt  she  had  hosts  of 
friends  and  admirers  there,  possibly  a  favoured  suitor. 
It  was  quite  likely.  A  girl  such  as  Gail  Sargent  could 
hardly  escape  it.  If  there  was  a  favoured  suitor  Al 
lison  rather  pitied  him,  for  Gail  was  in  the  city  of  strong 
men.  Busy  with  an  entirely  new  and  strange  group 
of  thoughts,  Allison  turned  into  the  Park,  and  Gail  ut 
tered  an  exclamation  of  delight  as  the  fresh,  keen  air 
whipped  in  her  face.  The  snow  was  like  a  filmy  white 
veil  against  the  bare  trees,  and  enough  of  it  had  clung, 
by  now,  to  outline,  with  silver  pointing,  the  lacework 
of  branches.  On  the  turf,  still  green  from  the  open 
winter,  it  lay  in  thin  white  patches,  and  squirrels,  clad 
in  their  sleek  winter  garments,  were  already  scampering 


14  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

to  their  beds,  crossing  the  busy  drive  with  the  adroit 
ness  of  accomplished  metropolitan  pedestrians,  their 
bushy  tails  hopping  behind  them  in  ungainly  loops. 

The  pair  in  the  runabout  were  silent,  for  the  east 
drive  at  this  hour  was  thronged  with  outward  bound 
machines,  and  the  roadway  was  slippery  with  the  new- 
fallen  snow.  Steady  of  nerve,  keen  of  eye,  firm  of 
hand !  Gail  watched  the  alert  figure  of  Allison,  tensely 
and  yet  easily  motionless,  in  the  seat  beside  her.  The 
terrific  swiftness  of  everything  impressed  her.  Every 
car  was  going  at  top  speed,  and  it  seemed  that  she  was 
in  a  constant  maze  of  hair-breadth  escapes.  By  and 
by,  however,  she  found  another  and  a  greater  marvel; 
that  in  all  this  breathless  driving,  there  was  no  reck 
lessness.  Capability,  that  was  the  word  for  which  she 
had  been  groping.  No  man  could  survive  here,  and  rest 
his  feet  upon  the  under  layer,  unless  he  possessed  su 
perior  ability,  superior  will,  superior  strength.  She  ar 
rived  at  exactly  the  same  phrase  Allison  had  enter 
tained  five  minutes  before ;  "  the  city  of  strong  men  " ! 
Again  she  turned  to  the  man  at  her  side  for  a  critical 
inspection,  in  this  new  light.  His  frame  was  powerful, 
and  the  square,  high  forehead,  with  the  bulges  of  con 
centration  above  the  brows,  showed  his  mental  equip 
ment  to  be  equally  as  rugged.  His  profile  was  a  crisply 
cut  silhouette  against  the  wintry  grey ;  straight  nose, 
full,  firm  lips,  pointed  chin,  square  jaw.  He  was  a 
fair  example  of  all  this  force. 

Perhaps  feeling  the  steady  gaze,  Allison  turned  to 
her  suddenly,  and  for  a  moment  the  grey  eyes  and  the 
brown  ones  looked  questioningly  into  each  other,  then 
there  leaped  from  the  man  to  the  woman  a  something 
which  held  her  gaze  a  full  second  longer  than  she  would 
have  wished. 


"WHY?"  15 

"  Air's  great,"  he  said  with  a  smile. 

"  Glorious !  "  she  agreed.     "  I  don't  want  to  go  in." 

"  Don't,"  he  promptly  advised  her. 

"  That's  a  simple  enough  solution,"  and  her  laugh, 
in  the  snow-laden  air,  reminded  him,  in  one  of  those 
queer  flashes  of  memory,  of  a  little  string  of  sleighbells 
he  had  owned  as  a  youngster.  "  However,  I  promised 
Cousin  Lucile." 

"  We'll  stop  at  the  house  long  enough  to  tell  her 
you're  busy,"  suggested  Allison,  as  eager  as  a  boy.  He 
had  been  on  his  way  home  to  dress  for  a  business  ban 
quet,  but  such  affairs  came  often,  and  impulsive  adven 
tures  like  this  could  be  about  once  in  a  lifetime  with  him. 
He  had  played  the  grubbing  game  so  assiduously  that, 
while  he  had  advanced,  as  one  of  his  lieutenants  said, 
from  a  street  car  strap  to  his  present  mastership  of 
traction  facilities,  he  had  missed  a  lot  of  things  on  the 
way.  He  was  energetic  to  make  up  for  the  loss,  how 
ever.  He  felt  quite  ready  to  pour  a  few  gallons  of 
gasolene  into  his  runabout  and  go  straight  on  to  Bos 
ton,  or  any  other  place  Gail  might  suggest;  and  there 
was  an  exhilaration  in  his  voice  which  was  conta 
gious. 

"  Let's !  "  cried  Gail,  and,  with  a  laugh  which  he  had 
discarded  with  his  first  business  promotion,  Allison 
threw  out  another  notch  of  speed,  and  whirled  from 
the  Seventy-second  Street  entrance  up  the  Avenue  to 
the  proper  turning,  and  halfway  down  the  block,  where 
he  made  a  swift  but  smooth  stop,  bringing  the  step 
with  marvellous  accuracy  to  within  an  inch  of  the  curb. 

"  Won't  you  come  in  ?  "  invited  Gail. 

"  We'd  stay  too  long,"  grinned  Allison,  entering  into 
the  conspiracy  with  great  fervour. 

She  flashed  at  him  a  smile  and  ran  up  the  steps.     She 


16  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

turned  to  him  again  as  she  waited  for  the  bell  to  be  an 
swered,  and  nodded  to  him  with  frank  comradery. 

"  Time  me,"  she  called,  and  he  jerked  out  his  watch 
as  she  slipped  in  at  the  door. 

Two  vivacious  looking  young  women,  one  tall  and 
black-haired  and  the  other  petite  and  blonde,  and  both 
fashionably  slender  and  both  pretty,  rushed  out  into 
the  hall  and  surrounded  her. 

"  We  thought  you'd  never  come,"  rattled  Lucile 
Teasdale,  who  was  the  petite  blonde,  and  the  daughter 
of  the  sister  of  the  wife  of  Gail's  Uncle  Jim. 

"Who's  the  man?"  demanded  Mrs.  "  Arly "  Fos- 
land,  with  breathless  interest. 

"  Where's  my  tea  ?  "  answered  Gail. 

"  We  saw  you  dash  up,"  supplemented  Lucile. 
"  We  thought  it  was  a  fire." 

"  Why  doesn't  he  come  in  ?  "  this  from  Arly,  in  whom 
two  years  of  polite  married  life  had  not  destroyed  an 
innocently  eager  curiosity  to  inspect  eligibles  at  close 
range,  for  her  friends. 

"Who  is  he?"  insisted  Lucile,  peeping  out  of  the 
hall  window. 

"  Edward  E.  Allison,"  primly  announced  Gail,  sup 
pressing  a  giggle.  "  I  got  him  at  Uncle  Jim's  vestry 
meeting.  He's  waiting  to  take  me  riding  in  the  Park. 
Where's  my  tea?" 

"Edward  E.  Allison!"  gasped  "Arly"  Fosland. 
"  Why,  he's  the  richest  bachelor  in  New  York,  even  if 
he  isn't  a  social  butterfly,"  and  she  contemplated  Gail 
in  sisterly  wonder  and  admiration.  "  Good  gracious, 
child,  run !  " 

"  Come  for  the  tea  to-morrow !  "  urged  Lucile. 

They  were  all  three  laughing,  and  the  two  young 
married  women  were  pushing  Gail  forward.  At  the 


"WHY?"  17 

door  Lucile  and  Arly  separated  from  her,  to  peer  out 
of  the  two  side  windows. 

"  He  doesn't  look  so  old,"  speculated  Arly ;  and  Lu 
cile  opened  the  door. 

"  Good-bye,  dearie,"  and  Lucile  kissed  her  cousin  in 
pla-in  sight  of  the  curb,  upon  which  there  was  nothing 
for  that  young  lady  to  do  but  go. 

For  an  instant,  Edward  E.  Allison  had  a  glimpse  of 
her,  in  her  garnet  and  turquoise,  flanked  by  a  sprightly 
vision  in  blue  and  another  sprightly  vision  in  pink,  and 
he  thought  he  heard  the  suppressed  sounds  of  titter 
ing;  then  the  door  closed,  and  the  lace  curtains  of  the 
hall  windows  bulged  outward,  and  Gail  came  tripping 
down  the  steps. 

"  Two  minutes  and  forty-eight  seconds,"  called  Al 
lison,  putting  away  his  stop  watch  with  one  hand  and 
helping  her  with  the  other.  He  tucked  her  in  more 
quickly  than  at  the  church,  but  with  equal  care,  then 
he  jumped  in  beside  her,  and  never  had  he  cut  so  swift 
and  sure  a  circle  with  his  sixty  horse-power  runabout. 

They  raced  up  and  into  the  Park,  and  around  the 
winding  driveways  with  the  light-hearted  exhilaration 
of  children,  and  if  there  was  in  them  at  that  moment 
any  trace  of  mature  thought,  they  were  neither  one 
aware  of  it.  They  were  glad  that  they  were  just  liv 
ing,  and  moving  swiftly  in  the  open  air,  glad  that  it 
was  snowing,  glad  that  the  light  was  beginning  to  fade, 
that  there  were  other  vehicles  in  the  Park,  that  the 
world  was  such  a  bright  and  happy  place;  and  they 
were  quite  pleased,  too,  to  be  together. 

It  was  still  light,  though  the  electric  lamps  were  be 
ginning  to  flare  up  through  the  thin  snow  veil,  when 
they  rounded  a  rocky  drive,  and  came  in  view  of  a  lit 
tle  lookout  house  perched  on  a  hill." 


i8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Oh ! "  called  Gail,  involuntarily  putting  her  hand 
on  his  arm.  "  I  want  to  go  up  there !  " 

The  work  of  Edward  E.  Allison  was  well  nigh  per 
fection.  He  stopped  the  runabout  exactly  at  the  cen 
tre  of  the  pathway,  and  was  out  and  on  Gail's  side  of 
the  car  with  the  agility  of  a  youngster  after  a  robin's 
egg.  He  helped  her  to  alight,  and  would  have  helped 
her  up  the  hill  with  great  pleasure,  but  she  was  too 
nimble  and  too  eager  for  that,  and  was  in  the  lookout 
house  several  steps  ahead  of  him. 

"  It's  glorious,"  she  said,  and  her  low,  melodious 
voice  thrilled  him  again  with  that  strange  quality  he  had 
noticed  when  she  had  first  spoken  at  the  vestry  meeting. 

Below  them  lay  a  grey  mist,  dotted  here  and  there 
with  haloed  lights,  which  receded  in  the  distance  into 
tiny  yellow  blurs,  while  the  nearer  lamps  were  swathed 
in  swirling  snowflakes.  Nearby  were  ghosts  of  trees 
projecting  their  tops  from  the  misty  lake,  and  out  of 
what  seemed  a  vast  eerie  depth  came  the  clang  of  street 
cars,  and  the  rumble  of  the  distant  elevated,  and  the 
honks  of  auto  horns,  and  all  the  rattle  and  roar  of  the 
great  city,  muffled  and  subdued. 

"  It's  like  being  out  of  the  world."  He  was  aston 
ished  to  find  in  himself  the  sudden  growth  of  a  poetic 
spirit,  and  his  voice  had  in  it  the  modulation  which 
went  with  the  sentiment. 

"  This  was  created,"  mused  Gail,  as  if  answering  an 
inner  question.  "  Why  should  the  clumsy  minds  of  men 
destroy  the  simplicity  of  anything  so  vast,  and  good, 
and  beautiful,  as  our  instinctive  belief  in  the  Creator?  " 

Finding  no  answer  in  his  experience  to  this  unfathom 
able  mystery,  Edward  E.  Allison  very  wisely  kept  still 
and  admired  the  scenery,  which  consisted  of  one  girl 
framed  tastefully  in  a  miscellaneous  assortment  of  snow- 


"WHY?"  19 

flakes.  When  he  tried  to  unravel  the  girl,  he  found  her 
a  still  more  fathomless  mystery,  and  gave  up  the  task 
in  a  hurry.  After  all,  she  was  right  there,  and  that 
was  enough. 

When  she  was  quite  finished  with  the  view,  she  turned 
and  went  down  the  hill,  and  Edward  Allison  nearly 
sprained  his  spinal  column  in  getting  just  ahead  of  her 
on  the  steepened  narrow  path.  It  was  treacherous 
walking  just  there,  with  the  freshly  fallen  snow  on  the 
shale  stones.  He  was  heartily  glad  that  he  had 
taken  this  precaution,  for,  near  the  bottom  of  the 
hill,  one  of  her  tiny  French  heels  slid,  and  she 
might  have  fallen  had  it  not  been  for  the  iron-like  arm 
which  he  threw  back  to  support  her.  For  just  an  in 
stant  she  was  thrown  fairly  in  his  embrace,  with  his  arm 
about  her  waist,  and  her  weight  upon  his  breast ;  and, 
in  that  instant,  the  fire  which  had  been  smouldering  in 
him  all  afternoon  burst  into  flame.  With  a  mighty  re 
pression  he  resisted  the  impulse  to  crush  her  to  him, 
and  handed  her  to  the  equilibrium  which  she  instinc 
tively  sought,  though  the  arm  trembled  which  had  been 
pressed  about  her.  His  heart  sang,  as  he  helped  her 
into  the  machine,  and  sprang  in  beside  her.  He  felt 
a  savage  joy  in  his  strength  as  he  started  the  car  and 
felt  the  wheel  under  his  hard  grip.  He  was  young, 
younger  than  he  had  ever  been  in  his  boyhood ;  strong, 
stronger  than  he  had  ever  been  in  his  youth.  What 
worlds  he  might  conquer  now  with  this  new  blood  rac 
ing  through  his  veins.  It  was  as  if  he  had  been  sud 
denly  thrust  into  the  fires  of  eternal  life,  and  endowed 
with  all  the  vast,  irresistible  force  of  creation ! 

Gail,  too,  was  disturbed.  While  she  had  laughed  to 
cover  the  embarrassment  of  her  mishap,  she  had  been 
quite  collected  enough  to  thank  Allison  for  his  ready 


20  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

aid ;  but  she  had  felt  the  thrill  of  that  tensed  arm,  and 
it  had  awakened  in  her  mind  an  entirely  new  vein  of 
puzzled  conjecture.  They  were  both  silent,  and  busy 
with  that  new  world  which  opens  up  when  any  two  con 
genial  personalities  meet,  as  they  raced  out  of  the  Park, 
and  over  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  and  up  River 
side  Drive,  and  out  Old  Broadway.  Occasionally  they 
exchanged  bits  of  spineless  repartee,  and  laughed  at  it, 
but  this  was  only  perfunctory,  for  they  had  left  the 
boy  and  girl  back  yonder  in  the  park. 

Gravity  with  a  man  invariably  leads  him  back  to  the 
consideration  of  his  leading  joy  in  life,  business;  and 
the  first  thing  Allison  knew  he  was  indulging  in  quite 
a  unique  weakness,  for  him ;  he  was  bragging !  Not 
exactly  flatfootcd;  but,  with  tolerably  strong  insinua 
tion,  he  gave  her  to  understand  that  the  consolidation 
of  the  immense  traction  interests  of  New  York  was 
about  as  tremendous  an  undertaking  as  she  could  com 
prehend,  and  that,  having  attained  so  dizzy  a  summit, 
he  felt  entitled  to  turn  himself  to  lighter  things,  to  en 
joy  life  and  gaiety  and  frivolity,  to  rest,  as  it  were, 
upon  his  laurels. 

Gail  was  amused,  as  she  always  was  when  men  of 
strong  achievement  dropped  into  this  weakness  to  in 
terest  girls.  She  did  appreciate  and  admire  his  no 
doubt  tremendous  accomplishment;  it  was  only  his 
naivete  which  amused  her,  and  to  save  her  she  could 
not  resist  the  wicked  little  impulse  to  nettle  him.  To 
his  suggestion  that  he  could  now  lead  a  merry  life  be 
cause  he  was  entitled  to  rest  upon  his  laurels,  she  had 
merely  answered  "  Why  ?  " 

He  dropped  into  a  silence  so  dense  that  the  thump 
was  almost  audible,  and  she  was  contrite.  She  had 
pricked  him  deeper  than  she  knew,  however.  She  had 


"WHY?"  21 

not  understood  how  gigantic  the  man's  ambitions  had 
been,  nor  how  vain  he  was  of  his  really  marvellous 
progress.  After  all,  why  should  he  pause,  when  he 
had  such  power  in  him?  She  did  well  to  speak  slight 
ingly  of  any  achievement  made  by  a  man  of  such  proved 
ability.  New  ambitions  sprang  up  in  him.  The  next 
time  he  talked  of  business  with  her  he  would  have  some 
thing  startling  under  way ;  something  to  compel  her  re 
spect.  The  muscles  of  his  jaws  knotted.  It  was  like 
being  dared  to  climb  higher  in  a  swaying  tree. 

"  Oh,  it's  dark !  "  suddenly  discovered  Gail.  "  Aunty 
will  be  frantic." 

"  That's  so,"  regretfully  agreed  Allison,  who,  hav 
ing  no  Aunties  of  his  own,  was  prone  to  forget  them. 
"  We'll  stop  up  at  this  roadhouse,  and  you  can  tele 
phone  her,"  and  he  turned  in  at  the  drive  where  rose 
petalled  lights  gleamed  out  from  the  latticed  windows 
of  a  low-eaved  building.  Dozens  of  autos,  parked  amid 
the  snow-sheeted  shrubbery,  glared  at  them  with  big 
yellow  eyes,  and,  through  the  windows,  were  white  cloths 
and  sparkling  glassware,  and  laughing  groups  about  the 
tables,  and  hurrying  waiters.  There  was  music,  too, 
slow,  languorous  music ! 

"  Doesn't  it  look  inviting !  "  exclaimed  Allison,  becom 
ing  instantly  aware  of  the  pangs  of  hunger. 

"  It's  an  enchanting  place !  "  agreed  Gail  enthusi 
astically. 

Allison  hesitated  a  moment. 

"  Tell  your  aunt  we're  dining  here,"  he  suggested. 

She  laughed  aloud. 

"  Wouldn't  it  be  fun,"  she  speculated,  and  Allison 
led  her  in  to  the  phone.  She  turned  to  him  with  a  snap 
in  her  eyes  at  the  door  of  the  booth.  "  It  depends  on 
who  answers," 


THE  grand  privilege  of  Mrs.  Jim  Sargent's  happy 
life  was  to  worry  all  she  liked.  She  began  with 
the  rise  of  the  sun,  and  worried  about  the  silver  chest; 
whether  it  had  been  locked  over  night.  Usually  she 
slipped  downstairs,  in  the  grey  of  the  morning,  to  see, 
and,  thus  happily  started  on  the  day,  she  worried  about 
breakfast  and  luncheon  and  dinner;  and  Jim  and  her 
sister  and  her  niece,  Lucile ;  and  the  servants  and  the 
horses  and  the  flowers ;  and  at  nights  she  lay  awake  and 
heard  burglars.  Just  now,  as  she  sat  on  the  seven 
chairs  and  the  four  benches  of  the  mahogany  panelled 
library,  amid  a  wealth  of  serious-minded  sculpture  and 
painting  and  rare  old  prints,  she  was  bathed  in  a  new 
ecstasy  of  painful  enjoyment.  She  was  worried  about 
Gail!  It  was  six-thirty  now,  and  Gail  had  not  yet  re 
turned  from  Lucile's. 

At  irregular  intervals,  say  first  two  minutes  and  then 
three  and  a  half,  and  then  one,  she  walked  into  the 
Louis  XIV  reception  parlour,  and  made  up  her  mind  to 
have  a  new  jeweller  try  his  hand  at  the  sun-ray  clock, 
and  looked  out  of  the  windows  to  see  if  Lucile's  car  was 
arriving.  Between  times  she  pursued  her  favourite  lit 
erary  diversion ;  reading  the  automobile  accidents  in 
the  evening  papers.  She  had  spent  all  her  later  years 
in  looking  for  Jim's  name  among  the  list  of  the  maimed ! 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  23 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies,  dressed  for  dinner  with  as  much 
care  as  if  she  had  been  about  to  attend  one  of  the  unat 
tainable  Mrs.  Waverly-Gaites'  annuals,  came  sweeping 
down  the  marble  stairs  with  the  calm  aplomb  of  one 
whom  nothing  can  disturb,  and,  lorgnette  in  hand, 
turned  into  the  library  without  even  a  glance  into  the 
floor-length  mirror  in  the  halL  Her  amber,  beaded 
gown  was  set  perfectly  on  her  fine  shoulders,  and  her 
black  hair,  fashionably  streaked  with  grey,  was  prop 
erly  done,  as  she  was  perfectly  aware. 

"  I'm  so  glad  you  came  down,  Helen !  "  breathed  Mrs. 
Sargent,  with  a  sigh  of  relief.  "  I'm  so  worried !  " 

"  Naturally,  Grace,"  returned  her  sister  Helen,  who 
was  reputed  to  be  gifted  in  repartee.  "  One  would  be, 
under  the  circumstances.  What  are  they  ?  "  and  she 
tapped  her  chin  delicately  with  the  tip  of  her  lorgnette, 
as  a  warning  to  an  insipient  yawn.  It  was  no  longer 
good  form;  to  be  bored. 

"  Gail !  "  replied  Mrs.  Sargent,  who  was  inclined  to 
dumpiness  and  a  decided  contrast  to  her  stately  wid 
owed  sister.  "  She  hasn't  come  home  from  Lucile's !  " 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  sat  beneath  the  statue  of  Mi 
nerva  presenting  wisdom  to  the  world,  and  arranged 
the  folds  of  her  gown  to  the  most  graceful  advantage. 

"  You  shouldn't  expect  her  on  time,  coming  from  Lu 
cile's,"  she  observed,  with  a  smile  of  proper  pride.  She 
was  immensely  fond  of  her  daughter  Lucile;  but  she 
preferred  to  live  with  her  sister.  "  I  have  a  brilliant 
idea,  Grace.  I'll  telephone,"  and  without  seeming  to 
exert  herself  in  the  least,  she  glided  from  her  picturesque 
high-backed  flemish  chair,  and  sat  at  the'  library  table, 
and  drew  the  phone  to  her,  and  secured  her  daughter's 
number. 

*'  Hello,  Lucile,"  she  called,  in  the  most  friendly  of 


24  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tones.  "  You'd  better  send  Gail  home,  before  your 
Aunt  Grace  develops  wrinkles." 

"  Gail  isn't  here,"  reported  Lucile  triumphantly. 
"  She  dropped  in,  two  hours  ago,  and  dropped  right 
out,  without  waiting  for  her  tea.  You'd  never  guess 
with  whom  she's  driving!  Edward  E.  Allison!  He's 
the  richest  bachelor  in  New  York !  " 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  turned  to  her  anxious  sister  with 
a  sparkle  in  her  black  eyes. 

"  It's  all  right,  Grace,"  and  then  she  turned  eagerly 
to  the  phone.  "  Did  he  come  in?  " 

"  They  were  in  too  big  a  rush,"  jabbered  Lucile  ex 
citedly.  "  He  doesn't  look  old  at  all.  Arly  and  I 
watched  them  drive  away.  They  seemed  to  be  great 
chums.  Gail  got  him  at  Uncle  Jim's  vestry.  Doesn't 
she  look  stunning  in  red !  " 

"Where  is-  she?"  interrupted  Mrs.  Sargent,  holding 
her  thumb. 

"  Out  driving,"  reported  sister  Helen.  "  Have  you 
sent  your  invitations  for  the  house  party,  Lucile?  "  and 
she  discussed  that  important  subject  until  Mrs.  Sar 
gent's  thumb  ached. 

"With  whom  is  Gail  driving,  and  where?"  asked 
sister  Grace,  anxious  for  detail. 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  touched  all  of  her  fingertips  to 
gether  in  front  of  her  on  the  library  table,  and  beamed 
on  Grace. 

"  Don't  wDrry  a'bout  Gail,"  she  smilingly  advised. 
"  She  is  driving  with  Edward  E.  Allison.  He  is  the 
richest  bachelor  in  New  York,  though  not  socially  prom 
inent.  No  one  has  ever  been  able  to  interest  him.  I 
predict  for  Gail  a  brilliant  future,"  and  she  moved  over 
contentedly  to  her  favourite  contrast  with  Minerva. 

"  Gail  would  attract  any  one,"  returned  Mrs.  Sar- 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  25 

gent  complacently,  and  then  a  little  crease  came  in  her 
brow..  "  I  wonder  where  she  met  him." 

"  At  the  vestry  meeting,  Lucile  said." 

"  Oh,"  and  Mrs.  Sargent's  brow  cleared  instantly. 
"  Jim  introduced  them.  I  wonder  where  Jim  is !  " 

"  I  am  glad  Gail  is  not  definitely  engaged,"  mused 
Mrs.  Davies.  "  I  am  pleased  with  her.  Young  Mr. 
Clemmens  may  seem  to  be  a  very  brilliant  match,  back 
home,  but,  with  her  exceptional  advantages,  she  has 
every  right  to  expect  to  do  better." 

Again  the  creases  came  in  Mrs.  Sargent's  brow. 

"  I  don't  know,"  she  worried.  "  Gail  has  had  four 
letters  in  four  days  from  Mr.  Clemmens.  Of  course, 
if  she  genuinely  cares  for  him  — " 

rt  But  she  doesn't,"  Helen  comforted  herself,  figur 
ing  it  all  out  carefully.  "  A  young  man  who  would 
write  a  letter  a  day,  would  exert  every  possible  pressure 
ta  secure  a  promise,  before  he  would  let  a  beautiful 
creature  like  Gail  come  to  New  York  for  the  winter; 
and  the  fact  that  he  did  not  succeed  proves,  conclu 
sively,  that  she  has  not  made  up  her  mind  about 
him." 

The  door  opened,  and  Jim  Sargent  came  in,  wiping 
the  snow  from  his.  stubby  moustache  before  he  distrib 
uted  his  customary  hearty  greetings  to  the  family. 

"  Where's  Gail  ?  "  he  wanted  to  know. 

"  Out  driving  with  Edward  E.  Allison,"  answered 
both  ladies. 

"  Still?  "  inquired  Jim  Sargent,  and  then  he  laughed. 
"  She's  a  clever  girl.  Smart  as  a  whip !  She  nearly 
started  a  riot  in  the  vestry." 

"Was  Willis  Cunningham  there?"  inquired  Mrs. 
Davies  interestedly. 

"  Took  me  in  a  corner  after  the  meeting  and  told 


26  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

me  that  Gail  bore  a  remarkable  resemblance  to  the 
Fratelli  Madonna,  and  might  he  call." 

"  Mr.  Cunningham  is  one  of  the  men  I  was  anxious 
for  her  to  meet,"  and  Mrs.  Davies  touched  her  second 
finger,  as  if  she  were  checking  off  a  list. 

"  What  did  Gail  do?  "  wondered  Mrs.  Sargent. 

Jim,  crossing  to  th'e  door,  chuckled,  and  removed  his 
watch  chain  from  his  vest. 

"  Told  Boyd  that  Market  Square  Church  was  a  good 
business  proposition." 

The  ladies  did  not  share  his  amusement. 

"  To  the  Reverend  Boyd !  "  breathed  Mrs.  Sargent, 
shocked.  She  considered  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  the 
most  wonderful  young  man  of  his  age. 

"  How  undiplomatic,"  worried  Mrs.  Davies,  "  I 
must  have  a  little  talk  with  her  about  cleverness.  It's 
dangerous  in  a  girl." 

"  Not  these  days,"  declared  Jim  Sargent,  who  stood 
ready  to  defend  Gail,  right  or  wrong,  at  every  angle. 
"  Allison  and  Manning  enjoyed  it  immensely." 

"  Oh,"  remarked  Helen  Davies,  somewhat  mollified. 
"  And  Mr.  Cunningham  ?  " 

"  And  what  did  the  Reverend  Boyd  say  ?  "  inquired 
Mrs.  Sargent,  much  concerned. 

"  I  don't  think  he  liked  it  very  well,"  speculated 
Gail's  Uncle  Jim.  "  He's  coming  over  to-night  to  dis 
cuss  church  matters.  I'll  have  to  dress  in  a  hurry," 
and  he  looked  at  the  watch  which  he  held,  with  its 
chain,  in  his  hand. 

The  telephone  bell  rang,  and  Sargent,  who  could 
not  train  himself  to  wait  for  a  servant  to  sift  the  mes 
sages,  answered  it  immediately,  with  his  characteristic 
explosive-first-syllabled : 

"Hello!" 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  27 

"  Oh,  it's  you,  Uncle  Jim,"  called  a  buoyant  voice. 
"  Mr.  Allison  and  I  have  found  the  most  enchanting 
roadhouse  in  the  world,  a,nd  we're  going  to  take  dinner 
here.  It's  all  right,  isn't  it?  " 

"  Certainly,"  he  replied,  equally  buoyant.  "  Enjoy 
yourself,  Chubsy,"  and  he  hung  up  the  receiver. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Mrs.  Davies,  in  a  tone  dis 
tinctly  chill.  She  had  a  premonition  that  Jim  Sargent 
had  done  something  foolish.  He  seemed  so  pleased. 

"  Gail  won't  be  home,"  he  announced  carelessly,  start 
ing  for  the  stairs.  "  She's  dining  with  Allison  at  some 
roadhouse." 

"  Unchaperoned!  "  gasped  Mrs.  Davies. 

"  She's  all  right,  Helen,"  remarked  Jim,  starting  up 
stairs.  "  Allison's  a  fine  fellow." 

"  But  what  will  he  think  of  G'ail !  "  protested  Helen. 
"  That  sort  of  unconventionally  has  gone  clear  out. 
Jim,  you'll  have  to  get  back  that  number ! " 

"  Sorry,"  regretted  Jim.  **  Can't  do  it.  Against 
the  telephone  rules,"  and  he  went  on  upstairs,  posi 
tively  humming! 

The  two  ladies  looked  at  each  other,  and  sat  down  in 
the  valley  of  the  shadows  of  gloom.  There  was  noth 
ing  to  be  done!  Mrs.  Davies,  however,  was  different 
from  her  sister.  Grace  Sargent  was  an  accomplished 
worrier,  who  could  remain  numb  in  the  exercise  of  her 
art,  but  Helen  Davies  was  a  woman  of  action.  She 
presently  called  her  daughter.. 

"  Have  you  started  your  dinner,  Lucile  ?  "  she  de 
manded. 

"  No,  Ted  just  came  home,"  reported  Lucile. 
"What's  the  matter?" 

"  Don't  let  him  take  time  to  dress,"  urged  her  mother. 
"  You  must  go  right  out  and  chaperon  Gail." 


28  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"Where  is  she?"   Lucile  delayed  to  inquire. 

"  At  some  roadhouse,  dining  with  Mr.  Allison !  " 

"  Well,  what  do  you  think  of  Gail !  "  exulted  Lucile. 
"  Oh,  Arly !  "  and  Mrs.  Davies  heard  the  receiver  drop 
to  the  end  of  its  line.  She  heard  laughter,  and  then 
the  voice  of  Lucile  again.  "  Mother,  she's  with  Ed 
ward  E.  Allison,  and  they'll  do  better  without  a  chap 
eron.  Besides,  mother  dear,  there's  a  million  road- 
houses.  We'll  come  down  after  dinner.  I  want  to  see 
her  when  she  returns." 

"  I  don't  suppose  she  could  be  found,  except  by  ac 
cident,"  granted  her  mother,  and  gave  up  the  enter 
prise.  "  Times  are  constantly  changing,"  she  com 
plained  to  her  sister.  "  The  management  of  a  girl  be 
comes  more  difficult  every  year.  So  much  freedom 
makes  them  disregardful  of  the  aid  of  their  elders  in 
making  a  selection." 

It  was  not  until  nine  o'clock  that  the  ladies  expressed 
their  worry  again.  At  that  hour,  Ted  and  Lucile 
Teasdale  and  Arly  Fosland  came  in  with  the  exuber 
ance  of  a  New  Year's  Eve  celebration. 

"  It's  great  sleighing  to-night,"  stated  Lucile's  hus 
band,  who  was  a  thin-waisted  young  man,  with  a  splen 
did  natural  gift  for  dancing. 

"  All  that's  missing  is  the  bells,"  chattered  the  black- 
haired  Arly,  breaking  straight  for  her  favourite  big 
couch  in  the  library.  "  The  only  way  to  have  any 
speed  in  an  auto  is  to  go  sidewise." 

"  We're  to  get  up  a  skidding  match,  so  I  can  bet  on 
our  chauffeur,"  laughed  Lucile,  fluffing  her  blonde  ring 
lets  before  the  big  mirror  in  the  hall.  "  We  slid  a  com 
plete  circle  coming  down  through  the  Park,  and  never 
lost  a  revolution !  " 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  29 

"  I've  been  thinking  it  must  be  bad  driving,"  fretted 
Mrs.  Sargent.  "  Gail  should  be  home  by  now !  " 

"  Allison's  a  safe  driver,"  comforted  Ted,  who  liked 
to  see  everybody  happy. 

Jim  Sargent  came  to  the  door  of  the  study,  in  which 
he  was  closeted  with  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd.  Jim 
was  practically  the  young  rector's  business  guardian-. 

"  Hello,  folks,"  he  nodded.     "  Gail  home?  " 

"  Not  yet,"  responded  Mrs.  Sargent,  in  whose  brow 
the  creases  were  becoming  fixed. 

"  It's  hardly  time,"  estimated  Jim,  and  went  back 
in  the  study. 

"  Ted  has  a  new  divinity,"  boasted  the  wife  of  that 
agreeable  young  man. 

"  Had,  you  mean,"  corrected  Ted.  "  She's  deserted 
me  for  a  single  man." 

"  Is  it  the  Piccadilly  widow?  "  inquired  Arly,  punch 
ing  another  pillow  under  her  elbow. 

"  Certainly,"  corroborated  Ted.  "  You  don't  sup 
pose  I  have  a  new  one  every  day." 

"  You're  losing  your  power  of  fascination  then,"  re 
torted  Arly.  "  Lucile's  still  in  the  running  with  two 
a  day." 

"  She  should  have  her  kind  by  the  dozen,"  responded 
Ted,  complacently  stroking  his  glossy  moustache. 

"  The  young  set  takes  up  some  peculiar  fads,"  mused 
Mrs.  Davies,  with  a  trace  of  concern.  "  I  can't  quite 
accustom  myself  to  the  sanction  of  flirting." 

"  Neither  can  I,"  agreed  Ted.  "  It  takes  the  fun 
out  of  it." 

"The  only  joy  is  in  boasting  about  it  at  home," 
complained  Arly  Fosland.  "  I  can't  even  get  Gerald 
interested  in  my  affairs,  so  I've  dropped  them." 


30  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Gerald  wouldn't  understand  a  flirtation  of  his  own," 
criticised  Ted.  "  I  never  saw  a  man  who  made  such 
hard  work  of  belonging  to  twelve  clubs.  Arly,  how  did 
you  manage  to  make  him  see  your  fatal  lure?  " 

"  Mother  did  it>"  returned  Arly,  drowsily  absorbing 
the  grateful  warmth  of  the  room. 

"  I  don't  think  anything  is  half  so  dangerous  to  a 
bachelor  as  a  mother,"  stated  Lucile,  with  a  friendly 
smile  at  Mrs.  Davies. 

"  I'm  going  to  start  a  new  fad,"  announced  Arly, 
sitting  up  and  considering  the  matter ;  "  prudery. 
There's  nothing  more  effective." 

"  It's  too  wicked,"  objected  Lucile's  mother,  and 
scored  another  point  for  herself.  It  was  a  wearing  task 
to  keep  up  a  reputation  for  repartee. 

"  I'm  terribly  vexed,"  confided  Lucile,  stopping  be 
hind  Ted's  chair,  and  idly  tickling  the  back  of  his  neck. 
"  I  thought  it  would  be  such  a  brilliant  scheme  to  give 
a  winter  week-end  party,  but  Mrs.  Acton  is  going  to 
give  one  at  her  country  place." 

"  Before  or  after? "  demanded  Mrs.  Davies,  with 
whom  this  was  a  point  of  the  utmost  importance. 

"  A  week  after,"  answered  Lucile,  "  but  her  invita 
tions  are  out.  I  wish  I  hadn't  mailed  mine.  What 
can  we  do  to  make  ours  notable?" 

That  being  a  matter  worth  considering,  the  entire 
party,  with  the  exception  of  Aunt  Grace,  who  was  lis 
tening  for  the  doorbell,  set  their  wits  and  their  tongues 
to  work.  Mrs.  Helen  Davies  took  a  keener  interest  in  it 
than  any  of  them.  The  invitation  list  was  the  most 
important  of  all,  for  it  was  a  long  and  arduous  way  to 
the  heaven  of  the  socially  elect,  and  it  took  generations 
to  accomplish  the  journey.  The  Murdock  girls,  Grace 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  31 

and  herself,  had  no  great-grandfather.  Murdock 
Senior  had  made  his  money  after  Murdock  Junior  was 
married,  but  in  time  to  give  the  girls  a  thorough  polish 
ing  in  an  exclusive  academy.  Thus  launched,  Helen 
had  married  a  man  with  a  great-great-grandfather,  but 
Grace  had  married  Jim  Sargent.  Jim  was  a  dear,  and 
had  plenty  of  money,  and  was  as  good  a  railroader  as 
Grace's  father,  with  whom  he  had  been  great  chums; 
but  still  he  was  Jim  Sargent.  Gail's  mother,  who  had 
married  Jim's  brother,  had  seven  ancestors,  but  a 
mother's  family  name  Is  so  often  overlooked.  Never 
theless,  when  Gail  came  to  marry,  the  maternal  ances 
try,  all  other  things  being  favourable,  might  even  secure 
her  an  invitation  to  Mrs.  Waverly-Gaites'  annual ! 
Reaching  this  point  in  her  circle  of  speculation,  Mrs. 
Helen  Davies  came  back  to  her  starting  place,  and 
looked  at  the  library  clock  with  a  shock.  Ten;  and 
the  girl  was  not  yet  home! 

The  Reverend  Smith  Royd  came  out  of  the  study 
with  his  most  active  vestryman,  and  joined  the  circle 
of  waiting  ones.  He  was  a  pleasant  addition  to  the 
party,  for,  in  spite  of  belonging  to  the  clergy,  he  was  able 
to  conduct  himself,  in  Rome,  in  a  quite  acceptable 
Roman  fashion.  Pleasant  as  he  was,  they  wished  he 
would  go  home,  because  it  was  not  convenient  to  worry 
in  his  company ;  and  by  this  time  Lucile  herself  was  be 
ginning  to  watch  the  clock  with  some  anxiety.  Only 
Mrs.  Sargent  felt  no  restraint.  An  automobile  honked 
at  the  door  as  if  it  were  stopping,  and  she  half  arose ; 
then  the  same  honk  sounded  half  way  down  the  block, 
and  she  sat  down  again. 

"  I'm  so  worried  about  Gail !  "  she  stated,  holding  her 
thumb. 


32  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  We  all  are,"  supplemented  Mrs.  Davies  quickly. 
"  She  has  been  dining  with  a  party  of  friends,  and  the 
streets  are  so  slippery." 

"  I  should  judge  Mr.  Allison  to  be  a  very  capable 
driver,"  said  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd;  and  the  ladies 
glared  at  Jim.  "  I  envy  them  their  drive  on  a  night 
like  this.  I  wonder  if  there  will  be  good  coasting." 

"Fine,"  judged  Jim  Sargent,  looking  out  of  the 
window  toward  the  adjoining  rectory.  "That  first 
snow  was  wet  and  it  froze.  Now  there's  a  good  inch 
on  top  of  it,  and,  at  this  rate,  there  should  be  three  by 
morning.  A  little  thaw,  and  another  freeze,  and  a  lit 
tle  more  snow  to-morrow,  and  I'll  be  tempted  to  make 
a  bob-sled." 

"  I'll  help  you,"  offered  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd, 
with  a  glow  of  pleasure  in  his  particularly  fine  eyes. 
"  I  used  to  have  a  twelve  seated  bob-sled,  which  never 
started  down  the  hill  with  less  than  fifteen." 

"  I  never  rode  on  one,"  complained  Arly.  "  I  think 
I'm  due  for  a  bob-sled  party." 

"  You're  invited,"  Lucile  promptly  told  her.  *'  Uncle 
Jim,  you  and  Dr.  Boyd  will  have  to  hunt  up  your  ham 
mer  and  saw." 

"  I'll  start  right  to  work,"  offered  the  young  rector, 
with  the  alacrity  which  had  made  him  a  favourite. 

"  If  the  snow  holds,  we'll  go  over  into  the  Jersey 
hills,  and  slide,"  promised  Sargent  with  enthusiasm. 
"  I'll  give  the  party." 

"  I  seem  to  anticipate  a  pleasant  evening,"  consid 
ered  Ted  Teasdale,  whose  athletics  were  confined  en 
tirely  to  dancing.  "  We'll  ride  down  hill  on  the  sleds, 
and  up  hill  in  the  machines." 

"  That's  barred,"  immediately  protested  Jim.     "  The 


IN  THE  RECTOR'S  EYES  33 

boys  have  to  pull  the  girls  up  hill.  Isn't  that  right, 
Boyd?" 

"  It  was  correct  form  when  I  was  a  boy,"  returned 
the  rector,  with  a  laugh.  He  held  his  muscular  hands 
out  before  him  as  if  he  could  still  feel  the  cut  of  the 
rope  in  his  palms.  He  squared  his  big  shoulders,  and 
breathed  deeply,  in  memory  of  those  health-giving  days. 
There  was  a  flush  in  his  cheeks,  and  his  eyes,  which 
were  sometimes  green,  glowed  with  a  decided  blue.  Ar- 
lene  Fosland,  looking  lazily  across  at  him,  from  the 
comfortable  nest  which  she  had  not  quitted  all  even 
ing,  decided  that  it  was  a  shame  that  he  had  been 
cramped  into  the  ministry. 

"  There's  Gail!  "  cried  Mrs.  Sargent,  jumping  to  her 
feet  and  running  into  the  hall,  before  the  butler  could 
come  in  answer  to  the  bell.  She  opened  the  door,  and 
was  immediately  kissed,  then  Gail  came  back  into  the 
library  without  stopping  to  remove  her  furs.  She  was 
followed  by  Allison,  and  she  carried  something  inside 
her  coat.  Her  cheeks  were  rosy,  from  the  crisp  air, 
and  the  snow  sparkled  on  her  brown  hair  like  tiny  dia 
monds. 

"  We've  been  buying  a  dog ! "  she  breathlessly  ex 
plained,  and,  opening  her  coat,  she  produced  an  ani 
mated  teddy  bear,  with  two  black  eyes  and  one  black 
pointed  nose  protruding  from  a  puff  ball  of  pure  white. 
She  set  it  on  the  floor,  where  it  waddled  uncertainly  in 
three  directions,  and  finally  curled  between  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd's  feet. 

"  A  collie !  "  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  picked  up 
the  warm  infant  for  an  admiring  inspection.  "  It's 
a  beautiful  puppy." 

"  Isn't  it  a  dear !  "  exclaimed  Gail,  taking  it  away 


34  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

from  him,  and  favouring  him  with  a  smile.  She 
whisked  the  fluffy  little  ball  over  to  her  Aunt  Grace, 
and  left  it  in  that  lady's  lap,  while  she  threw  off  her 
furs. 

"Where  could  you  buy  a  dog  at  this  hour?"  in 
quired  Mrs.  Davies,  glancing  at  the  clock,  which  stood 
now  at  the  accusing  hour  of  a  quarter  of  eleven. 

"  We  woke  up  the  kennel  man,"  laughed  Gail,  turn 
ing,  with  a  sparkling  glance,  to  Allison,  who  was  being 
introduced  ceremoniously  to  the  ladies  by  Uncle  Jim. 
"  We  had  a  perfectly  glorious  evening !  We  dined  at 
Roseleaf  Inn,  entirely  surrounded  by  hectic  lights, 
then  we  drove  five  miles  into  the  country  and  bought 
Flakes.  We  came  home  so  fast  that  Mr.  Allison  al 
most  had  to  hold  me  in."  She  turned,  laughing,  to  find 
the  eyes  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  fixed  on  her  in 
cold  disapproval.  They  were  no  longer  blue ! 


CHAPTER  IV 

TOO    MANY    MEN 

'  '  A     CONSCIENCE  must  be  a  nuisance  to  a  rector," 

^."V  sympathised  Gail  Sargent,  as  she  walked  up  the 
hill  beside  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

The  tall,  young  rector  shifted  the  thin  rope  of  the 
sled  to  his  other  hand. 

"  Epigrams  are  usually  more  clever  than  true,"  he 
finally  responded,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eyes.  It  had 
been  in  his  mind  to  sharply  defend  that  charge,  but  he 
reflected  that  it  was  unwise  to  assume  the  speech  worth 
serious  consideration.  Moreover,  he  had  come  to  this 
toboggan  party  for  healthful  physical  exercise! 

"  Then  you're  guilty  of  an  epigram,"  retorted  Gail, 
who  was  annoyed  with  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  with 
out  quite  knowing  why.  "  You  can't  believe  all  you  are 
compelled,  as  a  minister,  to  say." 

"  That,"  returned  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  coldly, 
"  is  a  matter  of  interpretation."  He  commended  him 
self  for  his  patience,  as  he  proceeded  to  instruct  this 
mistaken  young  person.  She  was  a  lovable  girl, 
in  spite  of  the  many  things  he  found  in  her  of 
which  to  disapprove.  "  The  eye  of  the  needle  through 
which  the  camel  was  supposed  not  to  be  able  to  pass, 
was,  in  reality,  a  narrow  city  gate  called  the  Needle's 
Eye." 

Gail  looked  at  him  with  that  little  smile  at  the  cor 
ners  of  her  red  lips,  eyelids  down,  curved  lashes  on 

35 


36  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

her  cheeks,  and  beneath  the  lashes  a  sparkle  brighter 
than  the  moonlight  on  the  snow  crystals  in  the  adjoin 
ing  field. 

"  It  seems  to  me  there  was  something  about  wealth 
in  that  metaphor,"  she  observed,  her  round  eyes  flash 
ing  open  as  she  smiled  up  at  him.  "  If  it  was  so  diffi 
cult  even  in  those  days  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  the 
Kingdom  of  Heaven,  how  can  a  rich  church  hope  to 
enter  the  spirit  of  the  gospel?" 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  hastily,  and  almost 
roughly,  drew  her  aside,  as  a  long,  low  bob-sled,  ac 
companied  by  appropriate  screams,  came  streaking  down 
the  hill,  and  passed  them.  They  both  turned  and  fol 
lowed  its  progress  down  the  narrowing  white  road, 
to  where  it  curved  away  in  a  silver  line  far  at  the 
bottom  of  a  hill.  Hills  and  valleys,  and  fences  and 
trees,  and  even  a  distant  stream  were  covered  with  the 
fleecy  mantle  of  winter,  while  high  over  head  in  a  sky 
of  blue,  hung  a  round,  white  moon,  which  flooded  the 
country-side  with  mellow  light,  and  strewed  upon 
earth's  fresh  robe  a  wealth  of  countless  sparkling  gems. 

"  This  is  a  wonderful  sermon,"  mused  Gail ;  then  she 
turned  to  the  rector.  She  softened  toward  him,  as  she 
saw  that  he,  too,  had  partaken  of  the  awe  and  majesty 
of  this  scene.  He  stood  straight  and  tall,  his  splen 
didly  poised  head  thrown  back,  and  his  gaze  resting  far 
off  where  the  hills  cut  against  the  sky  in  tree-clad  scal 
lops. 

"  It  is  an  inspiration,"  he  told  her,  with  a  tone  in  his 
vibrant  voice  which  she  had  not  heard  before ;  and  for 
that  brief  instant  these  two,  between  whom  there  had 
seemed  some  instinctive  antagonism,  were  nearer  in 
sympathy  than  either  had  thought  it  possible  to  be. 
Then  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  happened  to  remember 


TOO  MANY  MEN  37 

something.  "  The  morality  or  immorality  of  riches  de 
pends  upon  its  use,"  he  sonorously  stated,  as  he  stepped 
out  into  the  road  again,  dragging  his  sled  behind  him, 
following  the  noisy,  loitering  crowd  with  the  number 
two  bob-sled.  "  Market  Square  Church,  which  is  the 
one  I  suppose  you  meant  in  your  comparison  with  the 
rich  man,  intends  to  devote  all  the  means  with  which 
a  kind  Providence  has  blessed  it,  to  the  glory  of  God." 

"  And  the  gratification  of  the  billionaire  vestry,"  she 
added,  still  annoyed  with  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd, 
though  she  did  not  know  why. 

He  turned  to  her  almost  savagely. 

"  Have  you  no  sense  of  reverence  ?  "  he  demanded. 

"  For  the  church,  or  the  creed,  or  the  ministry  ?  Not 
a  particle !  "  she  heartily  assured  him.  "  The  church, 
as  an  instrument  for  good,  has  practically  ceased  to 
exist.  Even  charity,  the  greatest  of  the  three  princi 
ples  upon  which  the  church  was  originally  founded, 
has  been  taken  away  from  it,  because  the  secular  or 
ganisations  dispense  charity  better  and  more  sanely, 
and  while  the  object  is  still  alive." 

Again  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  drew  her  out  of  the 
road,  almost  ungently,  and  unnecessarily  in  advance 
of  need,  to  permit  a  thick  man  to  glide  leisurely  by,  on 
his  stomach  on  a  hand  sled.  He  grinned  up  at  them 
from  under  a  stubby  moustache,  and  waved  a  hand  at 
them  with  a  vigour  which  nearly  ran  him  into  a  ditch ; 
but  a  sharp  scrape  of  his  toe  in  the  snow,  made  with  a 
stab  the  expertness  of  which  had  come  back  to  him 
through  forty  years,  brought  him  into  the  path  again, 
and  he  slid  majestically  onward,  with  happy  forgetful- 
ness  of  the  dignity  belonging  to  the  president  of  the 
Towando  Valley  Railroad  and  a  vestryman  of  Market 
Square  Church. 


38  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  That  used  to  be  lots  of  fun,"  remembered  Gail, 
looking  after  her  Uncle  Jim  in  envy. 

"  Market  Square  Church  has  dispensed  millions  in 
charity,"  the  rector  felt  it  his  duty  to  inform  her,  as 
they  started  up  the  hill  again. 

"  If  it's  like  our  church  at  home  it  costs  ninety  cents 
to  deliver  a  dime,"  she  retorted,  bristling  anew  with 
bygone  aggravations.  "  So  long  as  you  can  deliver 
baskets  of  provisions  in  person,  it  is  all  right,  but  the 
minute  you  let  the  money  out  of  your  sight  it  filters 
through  too  many  paid  hands.  I  found  this  out  just 
before  I  resigned  from  our  charity  committee." 

He  looked  at  her  in  perplexity.  She  was  so  young 
and  so  pretty,  so  charming  in  the  ermine  which  framed 
her  pink  face,  so  gentle  of  speech  and  movement,  that 
her  visible  self  and  her  incisive  mind  seemed  to  be  two 
different  creatures. 

"  Why  are  you  so  bitter  against  the  church  ?  "  and 
his  tone  was  troubled,  not  so  much  about  what  she  had 
eaid,  but  about  her. 

"  I  didn't  know  I  was,"  she  confessed,  concerned 
about  it  herself.  "  All  at  once  I  seem  to  look  on  it  as 
an  old  shoe  which  should  be  cast  aside.  It  is  so  elab 
orate  to  do  so  little  good  in  the  world.  Morality  is 
on  the  increase,  as  any  page  of  history  will  show." 

"  I  believe  that  to  be  true,"  he  hastily  assured  her, 
glad  to  be  able  to  agree  with  her  upon  something. 

"  But  it  is  in  spite  of  the  church,  not  because  of  it," 
she  immediately  added.  "  You  can't  say  that  there  is 
a  tremendous  moral  influence  in  a  congregation  which 
numbers  eight  hundred,  and  sends  less  than  fifty  to 
services.  The  balance  show  their  devotion  to  Chris 
tianity  by  a  quarterly  check." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  felt  unfairly  hit. 


TOO  MANY  MEN  39 

"  That  is  the  sorrow  of  the  church,"  he  sadly  con 
fessed;  "  the  lukewarmness  of  its  followers." 

She  felt  a  trace  of  compunction  for  him ;  but  why 
had  he  gone  into  the  ministry? 

"  Can  you  blame  them  ?  "  she  demanded,  as  much  ag 
grieved  as  if  she  had  suffered  a  personal  distress. 
"  Not  so  long  ago,  the  governing  body  of  the  church 
held  a  convention  in  which  the  uppermost  thought  was 
this  same  luke-warmness.  It  was  felt,  and  acknowl 
edged,  that  the  church  was  losing  its  personal  hold  on 
its  membership,  and  that  something  should  be  done 
about  it;  yet  that  same  body  progressed  no  further  in 
this  problem  than  to  realise  that  something  should  be 
done  about  it ;  and  spent  hours  and  hours  wrangling 
over  whether  banana  wine  could  be  used  for  the  sac 
rament  in  Uganda,  where  grapes  do  not  grow,  and 
where  every  bottle  of  grape  wine  carried  over  the  desert 
represents  the  life  of  a  man.  Of  what  value  is  that  to 
religion?  How  do  you  suppose  Christ  would  have 
decided  that  question?" 

The  rector  flushed  as  if  he  had  been  struck,  and  he 
turned  to  Gail  with  that  cold  look  in  his  green  eyes. 

"  That  is  too  deep  a  subject  to  discuss  here,  but 
if  you  will  permit  me,  I  will  take  it  up  with  you  at  the 
house,"  he  quietly  returned,  and  there  was  a  dogged 
compulsion  in  his  tone. 

"  I  shall  be  highly  interested  in  the  defence,"  ac 
cepted  Gail,  with  an  aggravating  smile. 

There  seemed  to  be  but  very  little  to  say  after  that, 
and  they  walked  silently  up  the  hill  together  towards 
the  yellow  camp  fire,  fuming  inwardly  at  each  other. 
Near  the  top  of  the  hill,  her  ermine  scarf  came  loose  at 
the  throat,  and,  with  her  numbed  hands,  she  could  not 
locate  the  little  clasp  with  which  it  had  been  held. 


40  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  May  I  help  you  ?  "  offered  the  rector,  constraining 
himself  to  politeness. 

"  Thank  you."  She  was  extremely  sweet  about  it, 
and  he  reached  up  to  perform  the  courtesy.  The 
rounded  column  of  her  neck  was  white  as  marble  in  the 
moonlight,  and,  as  he  sought  the  clasps,  his  fingers, 
drawn  from  his  woollen  gloves,  touched  her  warm  throat, 
and  they  tingled.  He  started  as  if  he  had  received  an 
electric  shock,  and,  as  he  looked  into  her  eyes,  a  pur 
ple  mist  seemed  to  spring  between  them.  He  mechan 
ically  fastened  the  clasps,  though  his  fingers  trembled. 
"  Thank  you,"  again  said  Gail,  and  he  did  not  notice 
that  her  voice  was  unusually  low.  She  went  on  over 
to  the  group  gathered  around  the  fire,  but  the  Rever 
end  Smith  Boyd  stood  where  she  had  left  him, 
staring  stupidly  at  the  ground.  He  was  in  a  whirl  of 
bewilderment,  amid  which  there  was  some  unreasoning 
resentment,  but  beneath  it  all  there  was  an  inexplicable 
sadness. 

"  Just  in  time  for  the  Palisade  Special,  Gail,"  called 
Lucile  Teasdale. 

"  I  don't  know,"  laughed  Gail.  "  I  think  of  going 
on  a  private  car  this  trip,"  and  she  sought  among  the 
group  for  distraction  from  certain  oppressive  thought. 
Allison,  and  Lucile  and  Ted  and  Arly,  were  among  the 
more  familiar  figures ;  besides  were  a  cherub-cheeked 
young  lady  in  a  bear  skin,  to  whom  Ted  Teasdale  was 
pretending  to  pay  assiduous  attention;  and  the 
thoughtful  Willis  Cunningham ;  and  Houston  Van 
Ploon,  who  was  a  ruddy-faced  young  fellow  with  an 
English  moustache,  and  a  perpetual  air  of  having  just 
come  from  his  tailor's ;  and  a  startling  Adonis,  with 
pink  cheeks  and  a  shining  black  goatee  and  a  curly 
moustache.,  and  large,  round,  black  eyes,  which  were 


TOO  MANY  MEN  41 

deep,  and  full  of  almost  anything  one  might  wish  to 
put  into  them.  This  astoundingly  fascinating  gentle 
man  had  been  proudly  introduced  as  Dick  Rodley,  by 
Arlene,  early  in  the  evening,  with  an  air  which  plainly 
stated  that  he  was  a  personal  discovery  for  which  she 
gave  herself  great  credit.  At  present,  however,  he 
was  warming  the  slender  white  hands  of  Lucile  Teas- 
dale.  Now  he  sprang  up  and  came  towards  Gail. 

"  The  Palisade  Special  will  not  start  without  Miss 
Sargent,"  he  declared,  bending  upon  her  an  ardent 
gaze,  and  bestowing  upon  her  a  smile  which  displayed 
a  flash  of  perfect  white  teeth. 

Gail  breathlessly  thought  him  the  most  dangerously 
handsome  thing  she  had  ever  seen,  but  she  missed  the 
foreign  accent  in  him.  That  would  have  made  him 
complete. 

"  I'm  sorry  that  the  Palisade  Special  will  be  de 
layed,"  she  coolly  told  him,  but  she  tempered  the  de- 
liberateness  of  that  decision  with  an  upward  and  side 
long  glance,  which  she  was  startled  to  recognise  in  her 
self  as  distinct  coquetry.  She  concluded,  however,  on 
reflection,  that  this  was  only  a  just  meed  which  no  one 
could  withhold  from  this  resplendent  creature. 

"  You  haven't  the  heart  to  refuse,"  protested  hand 
some  Dick,  coming  nearer,  and  again  smiling  down  at 
her. 

"  I  have  a  prior  claim,"  laughed  Allison,  stepping 
up  and  taking  her  by  the  arm.  "  It's  my  turn  to  guide 
Miss  Sargent  on  the  two-passenger  sled." 

There  was  something  new  about  Allison  to-night. 
There  was  the  thrill  and  the  exultation  of  youth  in  his 
voice,  and  twenty  years  seemed  to  have  been  dropped 
from  his  age.  There  was  an  intensity  about  him,  too, 
and  also  a  proprietor-like  compulsion,  which  decided 


42  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Gail  on  a  certain  diversion  she  had  entertained.  She 
was  oppressed  with  men  to-night.  The  world  was  full 
of  them,  and  they  had  closed  too  nearly  around  her. 

Suddenly  she  broke  away  with  a  laugh,  and,  taking 
the  two-passenger  sled  from  Smith  Boyd,  who  still 
stood  in  pre-occupation  at  the  edge  of  the  group,  she 
picked  it  up  and  ran  with  it,  and  threw  herself  face 
forward  on  it,  as  she  had  done  when  she  was  a  kiddy, 
and  shot  down  the  hill,  to  the  intense  disapproval  of 
the  Reverend  Boyd!  Dick  Rodley,  ever  alert  in  his 
chosen  profession,  grabbed  a  light  steel  racer  from 
the  edge  of  the  bank,  and,  with  a  magnificent  run, 
slapped  himself  on  the  sled,  and  darted  in  pursuit ! 
The  rector's  lip  curled  the  barest  trace  at  one  cor 
ner,  but  Edward  E.  Allison,  looking  down  the  hill, 
grinned,  and  lit  a  cigar. 

"  Ted  Teasdale,  come  right  over  here,"  ordered  Lu- 
cile. 

"  Can't,"  carelessly  returned  Ted.  "  I'm  having  a 
serious  flirtation  with  Miss  Kenneth." 

"  You  have  to  stop,  and  flirt  with  me,"  Lucile  insisted, 
and  going  over,  she  slipped  a  hand  within  his  sleeve, 
and  passed  the  other  arm  affectionately  around  Marion 
Kenneth.  "  Gail  stole  the  ornament." 

"  Serves  you  right,"  charged  Arly  Fosland.  "  You 
stole  him  from  me.  Come  on,  Houston,  bring  out  the 
Palisade  Special." 

Houston  Van  Ploon,  who  was  a  brother  to  all  ladies, 
obediently  dragged  forward  the  number  two  bob-sled, 
and  set  its  nose  at  the  brow  of  the  hill,  and  the  merry 
mob  piled  on. 

"Coming  Allison?"  called  Cunningham.  "There's 
room  for  you  both,  Doctor." 

"  I  don't  think  I'll  ride  this  trip,  thanks,"  returned 


TOO  MANY  MEN  43 

Allison,  and,  as  the  rector  also  declined  with  pleasant 
thanks,  Allison  gave  the  voyagers  a  hearty  push,  and 
walked  back  to  the  camp  fire. 

"  I  received  the  ultimatum  of  your  vestry  to-day, 
Doctor  Boyd,"  observed  Allison  when  they  were  alone. 
"  Still  that  eventual  fifty  million." 

"  Well,  yes,"  returned  the  rector  briskly,  and  he 
backed  up  comfortably  to  the  blaze.  He  was  a  dif 
ferent  man  now.  "  We  discussed  your  proposition 
thoroughly,  and  decided  that,  in  ten  years,  the  property 
is  worth  fifty  million  to  you,  for  the  purpose  you  have 
in  mind.  Consequently  why  take  less." 

Allison  surveyed  him  shrewdly  for  a  moment. 

"  That's  the  argument  of  a  bandit,"  he  remarked. 
"  Why  accept  all  that  the  prisoner  has  when  his  friends 
can  raise  a  little  more?  " 

"  I  don't  see  the  use  of  metaphor,"  retorted  the  rec 
tor,  who  dealt  professionally  in  it.  "  Business  is  busi 
ness." 

Allison  grunted,  and  flicked  his  ashes  into  the  fire. 

"  By  George,  you're  right,"  he  agreed.  "  I've  been 
trying  to  handle  you  like  a  church,  but  now  I'm  going 
after  you  like  the  business  organisation  you  are." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  reddened.  The  charge 
that  Market  Square  Church  was  a  remarkably  lucrative 
enterprise  was  becoming  too  general  for  comfort. 

"  The  vestry  has  given  you  their  decision,"  he  re 
turned,  standing  stiff  and  straight,  with  his  hands 
clasped  behind  him.  "  You  may  pay  for  the  Vedder 
Court  tenement  property  a  cash  sum  which,  in  ten 
years,  will  accrue  to  fifty  million  dollars,  or  you  may 
let  it  alone,"  and  his  tone  was  as  forcefully  crisp  as 
Allison's,  though  he  could  not  hide  the  musical  timbre 
of  it. 


44  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  I  won't  pay  that  price,  and  I  won't  let  the  property 
alone,"  Allison  snapped  back.  "  The  city  needs  it." 

For  a  moment  the  two  men  looked  each  other  levelly 
in  the  eyes.  There  seemed  to  have  sprang  up  some 
new  enmity  between  them.  A  thick  man  with  a  stubby 
moustache  came  puffing  up  to  the  fire,  and  sat  down  on 
his  sled  with  a  thump. 

"  Splendid  exercise,"  he  gasped,  holding  his  sides. 
"  I  think  about  a  week  of  it  would  either  reduce  me  to 
a  living  skeleton,  or  kill  me." 

"  Your  vestry's  an  ass,"  Allison  took  pleasure  in  in 
forming  him. 

"  Same  to  you  and  many  of  them,"  puffed  Jim  Sar 
gent.  "  What's  the  trouble  with  you  ?  Trying  to 
take  a  business  advantage  of  a  church." 

"  I'd  have  a  better  chance  with  a  Jew,"  was  Allison's 
contemptuous  reply. 

"Oh,  see  here,  Allison!"  remonstrated  Jim  Sargent 
seriously.  He  even  rose  to  his  feet  to  make  it  more 
emphatic.  "  You  mustn't  treat  Market  Square  Church 
with  so  much  indignity." 

"Why  not?  Market  Square  Church  puts  itself  in 
a  position  to  be  considered  in  the  light  of  any  other 
grasping  organisation." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  finding  in  himself  the 
growth  of  a  most  uncloth-like  anger,  decided  to  walk 
away  rather  than  suffer  the  aggravation  which  must  en 
sue  in  this  conversation.  Consequently,  he  started 
down  the  hill,  dragging  Jim  Sargent's  sled  behind  him 
for  company.  There  were  no  further  insults  to  the 
church,  however. 

"  Jim,  what  are  the  relations  of  the  Towando  Val 
ley  to  the  L.  and  C.  ?  "  asked  Allison,  offering  Sargent 
a  cigar. 


TOO  MANY  MEN  45 

"  Largely  paternal,"  and  the  president  of  the  To- 
wando  Valley  grinned.  "  We  feed  it  when  it's  good, 
and  spank  it  when  it  cries." 

"  Hold  control  of  the  stock?  " 

"  No,  only  its  transportation,"  returned  Sargent 
complacently. 

"  Stock  is  a  good  deal  scattered,  I  suppose." 

"  Small  holdings  entirely,  and  none  of  the  holders 
proud,"  replied  Sargent.  "  It  starts  no  place  and 
comes  right  back,  and  the  share-holders  won't  pay  post 
age  to  send  in  their  annual  proxies." 

"  Then  the  stock  doesn't  seem  to  be  worth  buy 
ing,"  observed  Allison,  with  vast  apparent  indiffer 
ence. 

"  Only  to  piece  out  a  collection,"  chuckled  Sargent. 
"  I  didn't  know  you  were  interested  in  railroads." 

"  I  wasn't  a  week  ago,"  and  Allison  looked  out  across 
the  starry  sky  to  the  tree-scalloped  hills.  "  With  the 
completion  of  the  consolidation  of  New  York's  trans 
portation  system,  and  the  building  of  a  big  central  sta 
tion,  I  thought  I  was  through.  It  seemed  a  big  achieve 
ment  to  gather  all  these  lines  to  a  common  centre,  like 
holding  them  in  my  hand;  to  converge  four  millions  of 
people  at  one  point,  to  handle  them  without  confusion, 
and  to  re-distribute  them  along  the  same  lines,  looked 
like  a  life's  work ;  but  now  I'm  beginning  to  become  am 
bitious." 

"  Oh,  I  see,"  grinned  Jim  Sargent.  "  You  want  to 
do  something  you  can  really  call  a  job.  If  I  remember 
rightly,  you  started  with  an  equipment  of  four  horse 
cars  and  two  miles  of  rusted  rail.  What  do  you  want 
to  conquer  next  ?  " 

Allison  glanced  down  the  hill,  then  back  out  across 
the  starlit  sky.  Some  new  fervor  had  possessed  him 


46  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

to-night  which  made  him  a  poet,  and  loosened  the  tongue 
which,  previous  to  this,  could  almost  calculate  its  utter 
ances  in  percentage. 
"  The  world,"  he  said. 


CHAPTER  V 

EDWAKD    E.    ALLISON    TAKES    A    VACATION 

EDWARD  E.  ALLISON  walked  into  the  offices  of 
the  Municipal  Transportation  Company  at  nine 
o'clock,  and  set  his  basket  of  opened  and  carefully 
annotated  letters  out  of  the  mathematical  centre  of  his 
desk;  then  he  touched  a  button,  and  a  thin  young  man, 
whose  brow,  at  twenty,  wore  the  traces  of  preternatural 
age,  walked  briskly  in. 

"Has  Mr.  Greggory  arrived?" 

The  intensely  earnest  young  man  glanced  at  the 
clock. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  he  replied. 

"  Take  him  these  letters,  and  ask  him  if  he  will  be 
kind  enough  to  step  here." 

"  Yes,  sir,"  and  the  concentrated  young  man  de 
parted  with  the  basket,  feeling  that  he  had  quite  ca 
pably  borne  his  weight  of  responsibility. 

Allison,  looking  particularly  fresh  and  buoyant  this 
morning,  utilised  his  waiting  time  to  the  last  fraction 
of  a  second.  He  put  in  a  telephone  call,  and  took  from 
the  drawer  of  his  desk  a  packet  of  neatly  docketed  pa 
pers,  an  index  memorandum  book,  a  portfolio  of 
sketches,  and  three  cigars,  the  latter  of  which  he  put  in 
his  cigar  case ;  then,  his  desk  being  empty,  except  for  a 
clean  memorandum  pad  and  pencil,  he  closed  it  and 
locked  it.  The  telephone  girl  reported  his  number  on 

47 


48  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  wire,  and,  the  number  proving  to  be  that  of  a  florist, 
he  ordered  some  violets  sent  to  Gail  Sargent. 

Gregory  walked  in,  a  fat  man  with  no  trace  of  non 
sense  about  him. 

"Out  for  the  day,  Ed?  "  he  surmised,  gauging  that 
probability  by  the  gift  of  the  letters. 

"  A  month  or  so,"  amended  Allison,  rising,  and  sur 
veying  the  three  articles  on  his  desk  calculatingly. 
"  I'm  going  to  take  a  vacation." 

"  It's  about  time,"  agreed  his  efficient  general  man 
ager.  "  I  think  it's  been  four  years  since  you  stopped 
to  take  a  breath.  Going  to  play  a  little?  " 

"  That's  the  word,"  and  Allison  chuckled  like  a  boy. 
"  Take  care  of  these  things,"  and  tossing  him  the 
packet  of  papers  and  the  memorandum  book,  he  took 
the  portfolio  of  sketches  under  his  arm. 

"  I  suppose  we'll  have  your  address,"  suggested 
Greggory. 

"  No." 

Greggory  pondered  frowningly.  He  began  to  see  a 
weight  piling  up  on  him,  and,  though  he  was  capable, 
he  loved  his  flesh. 

"About  that  Shell  Beach  extension?"  he  inquired. 
"  There's  likely  to  be  trouble  with  the  village  of  Wave- 
view.  Their  local  franchises  — 

"  Settle  it  yourself,"  directed  Allison  carelessly,  and 
Greggory  stared.  During  the  long  and  arduous  course 
of  Allison's  climb,  he  had  built  his  success  on  personal 
attention  to  detail.  "  Good-bye,"  and  Allison  walked 
out,  lighting  a  cigar  on  his  way  to  the  door. 

He  stopped  his  runabout  in  front  of  a  stationer's, 
and  bought  the  largest  globe  they  had  in  stock. 

"  Address,  please?  "  asked  the  clerk,  pencil  poised 
over  delivery  slip. 


ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION         49 

"  I'll  take  it  with  me,"  and  Allison  helped  them  se 
cure  the  clumsy  thing  in  the  seat  beside  him.  Then  he 
streaked  up  the  Avenue  to  the  small  and  severely  fur 
nished  house  where  four  ebony  servants  protected  him 
from  the  world. 

"  Out  of  town  except  to  this  list,"  he  directed  his 
kinky-haired  old  butler,  and  going  into  the  heavy  oak 
library,  he  closed  the  door.  On  the  wall,  depending 
from  the  roller  case,  was  a  huge  map  of  the  boroughs 
of  New  York,  which  had  hung  there  since  he  had  first 
begun  to  group  transportation  systems  together.  It 
was  streaked  and  smudged  with  the  marks,  of  various 
coloured  pencils,  some  faded  and  some  fresh,  and  around 
one  rectangle,  lettered  Vedder  Court,  was  a  heavy  green 
mark.  He  picked  up  a  pencil  from  the  stand,  but  laid 
it  down  again  with  a  smile.  There  was  no  need  for  that 
new  red  line ;  nor  need,  either,  any  longer,  for  the 
map  itself;  and  he  snapped  it  up  into  its  case, 
on  roller-springs  stiff  with  disuse.  In  its  place  he 
drew  down  another  one,  a  broad  familiar  domain 
between  two  oceans,  and  he  smiled  as  his  eye  fell 
upon  that  tiny  territory  near  the  Atlantic,  which, 
up  to  now,  he  had  called  a  world,  because  he  had  mas 
tered  it. 

His  library  phone  rang. 

"Mr.  Allison?"  a  woman's  voice.  Gail  Sargent, 
Mrs.  Sargent,  Mrs.  Davies,  or  Lucile  Teasdale.  No 
other  ladies  were  on  his  list.  The  voice  was  not  that 
of  Gail.  "Are  you  busy  to-night?"  Oh,  yes,  Lucile 
Teasdale. 

"  Free  as  air,"  he  gaily  told  her. 

"I'm  so  glad,"  rattled  Lucile.  "Ted's  just  tele 
phoned  that  he  has  tickets  for  '  The  Lady's  Maid.'  Can 
you  join  us?  " 


50  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  With  pleasure."  No  hesitation  whatever ;  prompt 
and  agreeable ;  even  pleased. 

"  That's  jolly.  I  think  six  makes  such  a  nice  crowd. 
Besides  you  and  ourselves,  there'll  be  Arly  and  Dick 
Rodley  and  Gail."  Gail,  of  course.  He  had  known 
that.  "  We'll  start  from  Uncle  Jim's  at  eight  o'clock." 

Allison  called  old  Ephraim. 

"  I  want  to  begin  dressing  at  seven-fi-fteen,"  he  di 
rected.  "  At  three  o'clock  set  some  sandwiches  inside 
the  door.  Have  some  fruit  in  my  dressing-room." 

He  went  back  to  his  map,  remembering  Lucile  with 
a  retrospective  smile.  The  last  time  he  had  seen  that 
vivacious  young  person  she  had  been  emptying  a  box 
of  almonds,  at  the  side  of  the  camp  fire  at  the  toboggan 
party.  He  jotted  down  a  memorandum  to  send  her 
some,  and  drew  a  high  stool  in  front  of  the  map. 

Strange  this  new  ambition  which  had  come  to  him. 
Why,  he  had  actually  been  about  to  consider  his  big 
work  finished ;  and  now,  all  at  once,  everything  he  had 
done  seemed  trivial.  The  eager  desire  of  youth  to 
achieve  had  come  to  him  again,  and  the  blood  sang  in 
his  veins  as  he  felt  of  his  lusty  strength.  He  was  start 
ing  to  build,  with  a  youth's  enthusiasm  but  with  a  man's 
experience,  and  with  the  momentum  of  success  and  the 
power  of  capital.  Something  had  crystallised  him  in 
the  past  few  days. 

Across  the  fertile  fields  and  the  mighty  mountains 
and  the  arid  deserts  of  the  United  States,  there  angled 
four  black  threads,  from  coast  to  coast,  and  everywhere 
else  were  shorter  main  lines  and  shorter  branches,  and, 
last  of  all,  mere  fragments  of  railroads.  He  began 
with  the  long,  angling  threads,  but  he  ended  with  the 
fragments,  and  these,  in  turns,  he  gave  minute  and  care 
ful  study.  At  three  o'clock  he  took  a  sandwich  and 


i      ,  7*5*1 


At  7:15  Ephraim  found  him  at  the  end  of  the  table  in  the  midst 
of  some  neat  and  intricate  tabulations 


ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION         51 

ordered  his  car.  He  was  gone  less  than  an  hour,  and 
came  back  with  an  armload  of  books ;  government  re 
ports,  volumes  of  statistics,  and  a  file  of  more  intimate 
information  from  the  office  of  his  broker.  He  threw 
off  his  coat  when  he  came  in  this  time,  and  spread,  on 
the  big,  lion-clawed  table  at  which  Napoleon  had  once 
planned  a  campaign,  a  vari-coloured  mass  of  railroad 
maps.  At  seven-fifteen  old  Ephraim  found  him  at  the 
end  of  the  table  in  the  midst  of  some  neat  and  intricate 
tabulations. 

"  Time  to  dress,  sir,"  suggested  Ephraim. 

Allison  pushed  to  the  floor  the  railroad  map  upon 
which  he  had  been  working,  and  pulled  another  one  to 
wards  him.  Ephraim  waited  one  minute. 

"  I've  run  your  tub,  sir." 

Allison  leafed  rapidly  through  the  pages  of  an  al 
ready  hard-used  book,  to  the  section  concerning  the 
Indianapolis  and  St.  Joe  Railroad.  Ephraim  looked 
around  calculatingly,  and  selected  an  old  atlas  from 
the  top  of  the  case  near  the  door.  He  held  it  aloft  an 
instant,  and  let  it  fall  with  a  slam. 

"  Oh,  it's  you,"  remarked  the  absorbed  Allison, 
glancing  up. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  returned  Ephraim.  "  You  told  me  to 
come  for  you  at  seven-fifteen." 

Allison  arose,  and  rubbed  the  tips  of  his  fingers  over 
his  eyes. 

"  Keep  this  room  locked,"  he  ordered,  and  stalked 
obediently  upstairs.  For  the  next  thirty  minutes  he 
belonged  to  Ephraim. 

He  was  as  carefree  as  a  boy  when  he  reached  Jim 
Sargent's  house,  and  his  eyes  snapped  when  he  saw  Gail 
come  down  the  stairs,  in  a  pearl  tinted  gown,  with  a 
triple  string  of  pearls  in  her  waving  hair,  and  a  rose- 


52  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

coloured  cloak  depending  from  her  gracefully  sloping 
shoulders. 

Her  own  eyes  brightened  at  the  sight  of  him.  He 
had  been  much  in  her  mind  to-day;  not  singly  but  as 
one  of  a  group.  She  was  quite  conscious  that  she  liked 
him,  but  she  was  more  conscious  that  she  was  curious 
about  him.  She  was  curious  about  most  men,  she  sud 
denly  found,  comparing  them,  sorting  them,  weighing 
them ;  and  Allison  was  one  of  the  most  perplexing  speci 
mens.  A  little  heavy  in  his  evening  clothes,  but  not 
awkward,  and  not  without  dignity  of  bearing.  He 
stepped  forward  to  shake  hands  with  her,  and,  for  a  mo 
ment,  she  found  in  her  an  inclination  to  cling  to  the 
warm  thrill  of  his  clasp.  She  had  never  before  been  so 
aware  of  anything  like  that.  Nevertheless,  when  she 
had  withdrawn  her  hand,  she  felt  a  sense  of  relief. 

"  Hello,  Allison,"  called  the  hearty  voice  of  Jim 
Sargent.  "  You're  looking  like  a  youngster  to-night." 

"  I  feel  like  one,"  replied  Allison,  smiling.  "  I'm  on 
a  vacation."  He  was  either  vain  enough  or  curious 
enough  to  glance  at  himself  in  the  big  mirror  as  he 
passed  it.  He  did  look  younger;  astonishingly  so;  and 
he  had  about  him  a  quality  of  lightness  which  made 
him  restless.  He  had  been  noted  among  his  business 
associates  for  a  certain  dry  wit,  scathing,  satirical,  re 
lentless;  now  he  used  that  quality  agreeably,  and  when 
Lucile  and  Ted,  and  Arly  and  Dick  Rodley  joined  them, 
he  was  quite  easily  a  sharer  in  the  gaiety.  At  the 
theatre  he  was  the  same.  He  participated  in  all  the 
repartee  during  the  intermissions,  and  the  fact  that  he 
found  Gail  studying  him,  now  and  then,  only  gave  him 
an  added  impulse.  He  was  frank  with  himself  about 
Gail.  He  wanted  her,  and  he  had  made  up  his  mind  to 
have  her.  He  was  himself  a  little  surprised  at  his  own 


ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION        53 

capacity  of  entertainment,  and  when  he  parted  from 
Gail  at  the  Sargent  house,  he  left  her  smiling,  and  with 
a  softer  look  in  her  eyes  than  he  had  yet  seen  there. 

Immediately  on  his  return  to  his  library,  Allison 
threw  off  his  coat  and  waistcoai,  collar  and  tie,  and  sat 
at  the  table. 

"  What  is  there  in  the  ice  box  ? "  he  wanted  to 
know. 

"  Well,  sir,"  enumerated  Ephraim  carefully ;  "  Mi- 
randy  had  a  chicken  pot-pie  for  dinner,  and  then 
there's  — " 

"That  will  do;  cold,"  interrupted  Allison.  "Bring 
it  here  with  as  few  service  things  as  possible,  a  bottle  of 
Vichy  and  some  olives." 

He  began  to  set  down  some  figures,  and  when 
Ephraim  came,  shaking  his  head  to  himself  about  such 
things  as  cold  dumplings  at  night,  Allison  stopped  for 
ten  minutes,  and  lunched  with  apparent  relish.  At 
seven-thirty  he  called  Ephraim  and  ordered  a  cold 
plunge  and  some  breakfast.  He  had  been  up  all  night, 
and  on  the  map  of  the  United  States  there  were  pencilled 
two  thin  straight  black  lines ;  one  from  New  York  to 
Chicago,  and  one  from  Chicago  to  San  Francisco. 
Crossing  them,  and  paralleling  them,  and  angling  in 
their  general  direction,  but  quite  close  to  them  in  the 
main,  were  lines  of  blue  and  lines  of  green  and  lines  of 
orange ;  these  three. 

Another  day  and  another  night  he  spent  with  his 
maps,  and  his  books,  and  his  figures ;  then  he  went  to 
his  broker  with  a  list  of  railroads. 

"  Get  me  what  stock  you  can  of  these,"  he  directed. 
"  Pick  it  up  as  quietly  as  possible." 

The  broker  looked  them  over  and  elevated  his  eye 
brows.  There  was  not  a  road  in  the  list  which  was 


54  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

important  strategically,  but  he  had  ceased  to  ask  ques 
tions  of  Edward  Allison. 

Three  days  later,  Allison  went  into  the  annual  stock 
holders'  meeting  of  the  L.  and  C.  Railroad,  and  reg 
istered  majority  of  the  stock  in  that  insignificant  line, 
which  ran  up  the  shore  opposite  Crescent  Island,  joined 
the  Towando  Valley  shortly  after  its  emergence  from 
its  hired  entrance  into  New  York,  ran  for  fifty  miles 
over  the  roadway  of  the  Towando,  with  which  it  had 
a  long-time  tracking  contract,  and  wandered  up  into 
the  country,  where  it  served  as  an  outlet  to  certain 
conservatively  profitable  territory. 

The  secretary  of  the  L.  and  C.,  a  man  of  thick  spec 
tacles  and  a  hundred  wrinkles,  looked  up  with  fear  in 
his  eyes  as  his  cramped  old  fingers  clutched  his  pen. 

"  I  suppose  you'll  be  making  some  important 
changes,  Mr.  Allison,"  he  quavered. 

"  Not  in  the  active  officers,"  returned  Allison  with 
a  smile,  and  the  president,  who  wore  flowing  side-whis 
kers,  came  over  to  shake  hands  with  him.  "  How  soon 
can  you  call  the  meeting?  " 

"  Almost  immediately,"  replied  the  president.  "  I 
suppose  there'll  be  a  change  in  policies." 

"  Not  at  all,"  Allison  reassured  him,  and  walked  into 
the  board  room,  where  less  than  a  dozen  stockholders, 
as  old  and  decrepit  as  the  road  itself,  had  congregated. 

The  president,  following  him,  invited  him  to  a  seat 
next  his  own  chair,  and  laid  before  him  a  little  slip  of 
paper. 

"  This  is  the  official  slate  which  had  been  prepared," 
he  explained,  with  a  smile  which  it  took  some  bravery 
to  produce. 

"  It's  perfectly  satisfactory,"  pronounced  Allison, 
glancing  at  it  courteously,  and  the  elderly  stockhold- 


ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION         55 

ers,  knotted  in  little  anxious  groups,  took  a  certain 
amount  of  reassurance  from  the  change  of  expression 
on  the  president's  face. 

The  president  reached  for  his  gavel  and  called  the 
meeting.  The  stockholders,  grey  and  grave,  and  some 
with  watery  eyes,  drew  up  their  chairs  to  the  long  table ; 
for  they  were  directors,  too.  They  answered  to  their 
names,  and  they  listened  to  the  minutes,  and  waded 
mechanically  through  the  routine  business,  always  with 
their  gaze  straying  to  the  new  force  which  had  come 
among  them.  Every  man  there  knew  all  about  Ed 
ward  E.  Allison.  He  had  combined  the  traction  inter 
ests  of  New  York  by  methods  as  logical  and  unsympa 
thetic  as  geometry,  and  where  he  appeared,  no  matter 
how  pacific  his  avowed  intentio-ns,  there  were  certain  to 
be  radical  upheavings. 

Election  of  officers  was  reached  in  the  routine,  and 
again  that  solemn  inquiry  in  the  faded  eyes.  The  "  of 
ficial  slate  "  was  proposed  in  nomination.  Edward  E. 
Allison  voted  with  the  rest.  Every  director  was  re- 
elected  ! 

New  business.     Again  the  solemn  inquiry. 

"  Move  to  amend  Article  Three  Section  One  of  the 
constitution,  relating  to  duration  of  office,"  announced 
Allison,  passing  the  written  motion  to  the  secretary. 
"  On  a  call  from  the  majority  of  stock,  the  stockhold 
ers  of  the  L.  and  C.  Railroad  have  a  right  to  demand 
a  special  meeting,  on  one  week's  notice,  for  the  purpose 
of  re-organisation  and  re-election." 

They  knew  it.  It  had  to  come.  However,  three  men 
on  the  board  had  long  held  the  opinion  that  any  change 
was  for  the  better,  and  one  of  these,  a  thin,  old  man 
with  a  nose  so  blue  that  it  looked  as  if  it  had  been  dyed 
to  match  his  necktie,  immediately  seconded, 


56  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Edward  E.  Allison  waited  just  long  enough  to  vote 
his  majority  stock,  and  left  the  meeting  in  a  hurry,  for 
he  had  an  engagement  to  take  tea  with  Gail  Sargent. 

He  allowed  himself  four  hours  for  sleep  that  night, 
and  the  next  afternoon  headed  for  Denver.  On  the  way 
he  studied  maps  again,  but  the  one  to  which  he  paid 
most  attention  was  a  new  one  drawn  by  himself,  on 
which  the  various  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  were 
represented  by  scrawled,  lead-pencilled  spirals.  Right 
where  his  thin  line  crossed  these  spirals  at  a  converg 
ing  point,  was  Yando  Chasm,  a  pass  created  by  na 
ture,  which  was  the  proud  possession  of  the  Inland 
Pacific,  now  the  most  prosperous  and  direct  of  all  the 
Pacific  systems ;  and  the  Inland,  with  an  insolent  pride 
in  the  natural  fortune  which  had  been  found  for  it 
by  the  cleverest  of  all  engineers,  guarded  its  precious 
right  of  way  as  no  jewel  was  ever  protected.  Just 
east  of  Yando  Chasm  there  crossed  a  little  "  one-horse  " 
railroad,  which,  starting  at  the  important  city  of  Sil- 
vcrknob,  served  some  good  mining  towns  below  the  In 
land's  line,  and  on  the  north  side  curved  up  and  around 
through  the  mountains,  rambling  wherever  there  was 
freight  or  passengers  to  be  carried,  and  ending  on  the 
other  side  of  the  range  at  Nugget  City,  only  twenty 
miles  north  of  the  Inland's  main  line,  and  a  hundred 
miles  west,  into  the  fair  country  which  sloped  down  to 
the  Pacific.  This  road,  which  had  its  headquarters  in 
Denver,  was  called  the  Silverknob  and  Nugget  City ; 
and  into  its  meeting  walked  Allison,  with  control. 

His  course  here  was  different  from  that  in  Jersey 
City.  He  ousted  every  director  on  the  board,  and 
elected  men  of  his  own.  Immediately  after,  in  the  di 
rectors'  meeting,  he  elected  himself  president,  and, 
kindly  consenting  to  talk  with  the  reporters  of  the 


ALLISON  TAKES  A  VACATION         57 

Denver  newspapers,  hurried  back  to  Chicago,  where  he 
drove  directly  to  the  head  offices  of  the  Inland  Pacific. 

"  I've  just  secured  control  of  the  Silverknob  and 
Nugget  City,"  he  informed  the  general  manager  of  the 
Inland. 

"  So  I  noticed,"  returned  Wilcox,  who  was  a  young 
man  of  fifty  and  wore  picturesque  velvet  hats.  "  The 
papers  here  made  quite  a  sensation  of  your  going  into 
railroading. 

"  They're  welcome,"  grinned  Allison.  "  Say  Wil 
cox,  if  you'll  build  a  branch  from  Pines  to  Nugget  City, 
we'll  give  you  our  Nugget  City  freight  where  we  cross, 
at  Copperville,  east  of  the  range." 

Wilcox  headed  for  his  map. 

"What's  the  distance?"  he  inquired. 

"  Twenty-two  miles ;  fairly  level  grade,  and  one 
bridge." 

"  Couldn't  think  of  it,"  decided  Wilcox,  looking  at 
the  map.  "  We'd  like  to  have  your  freight,  for  there's 
a  lot  of  traffic  between  Silverknob  and  Nugget  City, 
but  it's  not  our  territory.  The  smelters  are  at  Silver- 
knob,  and  they  ship  east  over  the  White  Range  Line. 
Anyway,  why  do  you  want  to  take  away  the  haulage 
from  your  northern  branch?" 

"  Figure  on  discontinuing  it.  The  grades  are  steep, 
the  local  traffic  is  light,  and  the  roadbed  is  in  a  rotten 
condition.  It  needs  rebuilding  throughout.  I'll  make 
you  another  proposition.  I'll  build  the  line  from  Pines 
to  Nugget  City  myself,  if  you'll  give  us  track  connec 
tion  at  Copperville  and  at  Pines,  and  will  give  us  a 
traffic  contract  for  our  own  rolling  stock  on  a  reason 
able  basis." 

Again  Wilcox  looked  at  the  map.  The  Silverknob 
and  Nugget  City  road  began  nowhere  and  ran  nowhere, 


58  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

so  far  as  the  larger  transportation  world  was  con 
cerned,  and  it  could  never  figure  as  a  competitor.  The 
hundred  miles  through  the  precious  natural  pass  known 
as  Yando  Chasm,  was  not  so  busy  a  stretch  of  road 
as  it  was  important,  and  the  revenue  from  the  passage 
of  the  Silverknob  and  Nugget  City's  trains  would  de 
duct  considerably  from  the  expense  of  maintaining  that 
much-prized  key  to  the  golden  west. 

"  I'll  take  it  up  with  Priestly  and  Gorman,"  prom 
ised  Wilcox. 

"  How  soon  can  you  let  me  know?  " 

"  Monday." 

That  afternoon  saw  Allison  headed  back  for  New 
York,  and  the  next  morning  he  popped  into  the  offices 
of  the  Pacific  Slope  and  Puget  Sound,  where  he  se 
cured  a  rental  privilege  to  run  the  trains  of  the  Orange 
Valley  Road  into  San  Francisco,  and  down  to  Los  An 
geles,  over  the  tracks  of.  the  P.  S.  and  P.  S.  The 
Orange  Valley  was  a  little,  blind  pocket  of  a  road,  which 
made  a  juncture  with  the  P.  S.  and  P.  S.  just  a  short 
haul  above  San  Francisco,  and  it  ran  up  into  a  rich 
fruit  country,  but  its  terminus  was  far,  far  away  from 
any  possible  connection  with  a  northwestern  competi 
tor;  and  that  bargain  was  easy. 

That  night,  Allison,  glowing  with  an  exultation  which 
erased  his  fatigue,  dressed  to  call  on  Gail  Sargent. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN  FROM  HOME 

MUSIC  resounded  in  the  parlours  of  Jim  Sargent's 
house;  music  so  sweet  and  compelling  in  its  har 
mony  that  Aunt  Grace  slipped  to  the  head  of  the  stairs, 
to  listen  in  mingled  ecstasy  and  pride.  Up  through 
the  hallway  floated  a  clear,  mellow  soprano  and  a  rich, 
deep  baritone,  blended  so  perfectly  that  they  seemed 
twin  tones.  Aunt  Grace,  drawn  by  a  fascination  she 
could  not  resist,  crept  down  to  where  she  could  see  the 
source  of  the  melody.  Gail,  exceptionally  pretty  to 
night  in  her  simple  little  dove-coloured  gown  with  its 
one  pink  rose,  sat  at  the  piano,  while  towering  above 
her,  with  his  chest  expanded  and  a  look-  of  perfect  peace 
on  his  face,  stood  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

Enraptured,  Aunt  Grace  stood  and  listened  until 
the  close  of  the  ballad.  Leafing  through  her  music 
for  the  next  treat,  Gail  looked  up  at  the  young  rector, 
and  made  some  smiling  remark.  Her  shining  brown 
hair,  waving  about  her  forehead,  was  caught  up  in  a 
simple  knot  at  the  back,  and  the  delicate  colour  of  her 
cheeks  was  like  the  fresh  glow  of  dawn.  The  Rever 
end  Smith  Boyd  bent  slightly  to  answer,  and  he,  too, 
smiled  as  he  spoke;  but  as  he  happened  to  find  him 
self  gazing  deep  into  the  brown  eyes  of  Gail,  the  smile 
began  to  fade,  and  Aunt  Grace  Sargent,  scared,  ran 
back  up  the  stairs  and  into  her  own  room,  where  she 

59 


6o  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

took  a  book,  and  held  it  in  her  lap,  upside  down.  The 
remark  which  Gail  had  made  was  this : 

"  You  should  have  used  your  voice  professionally." 

The  reply  of  the  rector  was : 

"  I  do." 

"  I  didn't  mean  oratorically,"  she  laughed,  then  re 
turned  nervously  to  her  search  for  the  next  selection. 
She  had  seen  that  change  in  his  smile.  "  It  is  so  rare 
to  find  a  perfect  speaking  voice  coupled  with  a  perfect 
singing  voice,"  she  rattled  on.  "  Here's  that  simple 
little  May  Song.  Just  harmony,  that's  all." 

Once  more  their  voices  rose  in  that  perfect  blending 
which  is  the  most  delicate  of  all  exhilarations.  In  the 
melody  itself  there  was  an  appealing  sympathy,  and, 
in  that  moment,  these  two  were  in  as  perfect  accord  as 
their  voices.  There  is  something  in  the  music  of  the 
human  tone  which  exerts  a  magnetic  attraction  like 
no  other  in  the  world ;  which  breaks  down  the  barriers 
of  antagonism,  which  sweeps  away  the  walls  of  self  en 
trenchment,  which  attracts  and  draws,  which  explains 
and  does  away  with  explanation.  This  was  the  first 
hour  they  had  spent  without  a  clash,  and  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  his  eyes  quite  blue  to-night,  brought 
another  stack  of  music  from  the  rack. 

The  butler,  an  aggravating  image  with  only  one 
joint  in  his  body,  paraded  solemnly  through  the  hall, 
and  back  again  with  the  card  tray,  while  Gail  and  the 
rector  sang  "  Juanita  "  from  an  old  college  song  book, 
which  the  Reverend  Boyd  had  discovered  in  high  glee. 
Aunt  Grace  came  down  the  stairs  and  out  past  the 
doors  of  the  music  salon.  There  were  voices  of  ani 
mated  greeting  in  the  hall,  and  Aunty  returned  to  the 
door  just  as  the  rector  was  spreading  open  the  book 
at  "  Sweet  and  Low." 


THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN       61 

"  Pardon  me,"  beamed  Aunty.  "  There's  a  little 
surprise  out  here  for  you." 

"  For  me?  "  and  Gail  rose,  with  a  smile  and  a  pretty 
little  nod  of  apology. 

She  moved  with  swiftly  quiet  grace  into  the  hall. 
There  was  a  little  half  shrieking  exclamation.  The  rec 
tor,  setting  a  chair  smilingly  for  Mrs.  Sargent,  hap 
pened,  quite  unwittingly,  to  come  in  range  of  the  hall 
mirror  at  the  moment  of  the  half  shriek,  and  he  saw 
an  impulsive  young  man  grab  Gail  Sargent  in  his  arms, 
and  kiss  her! 

"  Howard ! "  protested  Gail,  in  the  midst  of  embar 
rassed  laughter;  and  presently  she  came  in,  rosy- 
cheeked,  with  the  impulsive  young  man,  whose  hair  was 
inclined  to  thinness  in  front.  He  was  rather  good 
looking,  on  second  inspection,  with  a  sharp  eye  and  a 
brisk  manner  and  a  healthy  complexion. 

"  Mr.  Clemmens,  Doctor  Boyd,"  introduced  Gail,  and 
there  was  the  ring  of  genuine  pleasure  in  her  voice. 
"  Mr.  Clemmens  is  one  of  my  very  best  friends  from 
back  home,"  and  she  viewed  this  one  of  her  very  best 
friends  with  pride  as  he  shook  hands  with  the  Rever 
end  Smith  Boyd.  He  was  easy  of  manner,  was  Mr. 
Clemmens,  even  confident,  though  he  had  scarcely  the 
ease  which  does  not  need  self  assertion. 

"  I  am  delighted  to  meet  any  friend  of  Miss  Sar 
gent,"  admitted  the  rector,  in  that  flowing,  mellow  bari 
tone  which  no  one  heard  for  the  first  time  without  sur 
prise. 

"  Allow  me  to  say  the  same,"  returned  the  young 
man  from  back  home,  making  a  critical  and  jealous  in 
spection  of  the  disturbingly  commanding  rector.  His 
voice  was  brisk,  staccato,  and  a  trifle  high  pitched. 
Gail  had  always  admired  it,  not  for  its  musical 


62  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

quality,   of  course,  but   for  its  clean-cut  decisiveness. 

"When  did  you  arrive?"  asked  Mrs.  Sargent,  with 
hospitable  interest. 

"  Just  this  minute,"  stated  Clemmens,  exchanging 
a  glance  of  pleasure  with  Gail.  "  I  only  stopped  at 
the  hotel  long  enough  to  throav  in  my  luggage,  and 
drove  straight  on  here."  He  turned  to  her  so  ex 
pectantly  that  the  rector  rose. 

"  You're  not  going? "  protested  Gail,  and  was 
startled  to  find  that  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  eyes 
were  no  longer  blue.  They  were  cold. 

"  I'm  afraid  that  I  must,"  he  answered  her  in  the 
conventional  apologetic  tone,  which  was  not  at  all  like 
his  singing  voice.  It  sounded  rather  inflexible,  and  as 
if  it  might  not  blend  very  well.  "  I  trust  that  I  shall 
have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you  again,  Mr.  Clem 
mens,"  and  he  shook  hands  with  the  brisk  young  man 
in  a  most  dignified  fashion.  He  bowed  his  frigid  adieus 
to  the  ladies,  and  marched  into  the  hall  for  his 
hat. 

"  Rector  ?  "  guessed  Mr.  Clemmens,  when  the  outer 
door  had  closed. 

"  Of  Market  Square  Church,"  proudly  asserted 
Aunt  Grace.  "  He  is  a  wonderfully  gifted  young  man. 
The  rectory  is  right  next  door." 

"  Oh  yes,"  responded  Mr.  Clemmens  perfunctorily, 
and  he  turned  slowly  to  Gail.  "  Fine  looking  chap, 
isn't  he?" 

Gail  bridled  a  trifle.  She  knew  that  trick  of  jealous 
interrogation  quite  well.  Howard  was  trying  to  sur 
prise  her  into  some  facial  expression  which  would  be 
tray  her  attitude  toward  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

"  He's  perfectly  splendid !  "  she  beamed.  "  He  has 
the  richest  baritone  I've  ever  heard." 


THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN       63 

"  It  blends  so  perfectly  with  Gail's,"  supplemented 
the  admiring  Aunt  Grace.  "  We  must  have  him  over 
so  you  may  hear  them  sing." 

"  I'll  be  delighted,"  lied  Mr.  Clemmens,  shooting  an 
other  glance  of  displeasure  at  Gail. 

Somehow,  Aunt  Grace  felt  that  there  was  an  atmos 
phere  of  discomfort  in  the  room,  and  she  thought  she 
had  better  go  upstairs,  to  worry  about  it. 

"  You'll  take  dinner  with  us  to-morrow  evening,  I 
hope,"  she  cordially  invited. 

"  You  won't  have  to  ask  me  twice,"  laughed  Mr. 
Clemmens,  rising  because  Aunt  Grace  did.  He  was  al 
ways  punctilious,  and  the  manner  of  his  courtesies 
showed  that  he  was  punctilious. 

"  Well,  girl,  tell  me  all  about  it,"  heartily  began  the 
young  man  from  home,  when  Aunty  had  made  her  apol 
ogies  and  her  departure.  He  imprisoned  her  hand  in 
his,  and  seated  her  on  the  couch,  and  sat  beside  her, 
crossing  his  legs  comfortably. 

"  I've  been  having  a  delightful  time,"  replied  Gail. 
"  Suppose  we  go  over  to  the  blue  room,  Howard.  It's 
much  more  pleasant,  I  think."  She  wanted  to  be  away 
from  the  piano.  It  distressed  her. 

"  All  right,"  cheerfully  acquiesced  Howard,  and,  still 
retaining  her  hand,  he  went  over  with  her  into  the 
blue  room,  and  seated  her  on  the  couch,  and  sat  beside 
her,  and  crossed  his  legs.  "  We  made  up  our  monthly 
report  just  before  I  came.  Our  rate  of  increase  is 
over  ten  per  cent,  better  than  in  any  previous  month 
since  we  began.  Three  more  years,  and  we'll  have  the 
biggest  insurance  business  in  the  state ;  that  is,  except 
the  big  outside  companies." 

"  Isn't  that  splendid !  "  and  her  enthusiasm  was  fine 
to  see.  She  had  been  kept  posted  on  the  progress  of 


64  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  Midwest  Mutual  Insurance  Company  since  its  in 
ception,  and  naturally  she  was  very  much  interested. 
"  Then  you'll  branch  out  into  other  states." 

"  Not  for  ten  years  to  come,"  he  told  her,  smiling 
at  her  woman-like  over-estimate.  "  The  Midwest  won't 
do  that  until  we've  covered  the  home  territory  so  thor 
oughly  that  there'll  be  no  chance  of  further  expansion. 
My  board  of  directors  brought  up  that  matter  at  the 
last  meeting,  but  I  turned  it  down  flat-footed.  I'm 
enterprising  enough,  but  I'm  thorough.  The  presi 
dent  has  thrown  the  entire  responsibility  on  my 
shoulders,  and  I  won't  take  any  foolish  risks." 

Gail  turned  to  him  in  clear-eyed  speculation. 

"  If  I  were  a  man,  I'm  afraid  I'd  be  a  business  gam 
bler,"  she  mused. 

"  I've  no  doubt  you  would,"  he  comfortably  laughed. 
"  However,  my  method  is  the  safest.  Ten  years  from 
now,  Gail,  I'll  have  money  that  I  made  myself,  and, 
in  twenty,  I'll  be  shamelessly  rich.  Sounds  good, 
doesn't  it?" 

"  You  have  enough  money  now,  if  that's  all  you 
want,"  she  reminded  him-. 

"  No,  I'm  ambitious,"  he  insisted.  "  Not  for  my 
self,  though.  Gail,  you  know  why  I  made  this  trip," 
and  he  bent  closer  to  her.  His  staccato  voice  softened 
and  his  eyes  were  very  earnest.  "  I  couldn't  stay 
away."  He  clasped  his  other  hand  over  hers,  and  drew 
closer. 

"  I  told  you  you  mustn't,  Howard,"  she  gently  chided 
him,  though  she  made  no  attempt  to  withdraw  her  hand. 
"  I'm  not  ready  yet  to  decide  about  things." 

He  was  a  poor  psychologist. 

"  All  right,"  he  cheerfully  assented,  dropping  the 
earnestness  from  his  voice  and  from  his  eyes,  but  re- 


THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN       65 

taining  her  hand.  His  clasp  was  warm  and  strong  and 
wholesome.  "  Mrs.  King's  ball  was  rather  a  tame  af 
fair  this  year,  though  I  may  have  been  prejudiced  be 
cause  you  weren't  there." 

He  drifted  easily  into  chat  of  home  people  and  af 
fairs,  and  she  felt  more  and  more  contented  every  min 
ute.  After  all,  he  was  of  her  own  people,  linked  to 
them  and  to  her.  It  was  comfortable  to  be  with  some 
one  whom  one  thoroughly  understood.  There  was  no 
recess  of  his  mind  with  which  she  was  not  intimately 
acquainted.  She  could  foretell  his  mental  processes  as 
easily  as  she  could  read  the  time  on  her  watch.  It  was 
tremendously  restful,  after  her  contact  with  the 
stronger  personalities  which  she  had  found  here.  She 
had  been  wondering  in  what  indefinable  manner  Howard 
had  changed,  but  now  she  began  to  see  that  it  was  she 
who  had  shifted  her  viewpoint.  The  men  she  had  met 
here,  with  the  exception  of  such  as  Van  Ploon  and  Cun 
ningham  and  Ted  Teasdale,  were  far  more  complex  than 
Howard,  a  quality  which  at  times  might  be  more  in 
teresting  than  agreeable. 

A  rush  of  noise  filled  the  hall.  Lucile  and  Ted  Teas- 
dale,  handsome  Dick  Rodley  and  Arly  Fosland  and 
Houston  Van  Ploon,  had  come  clattering  in  as  an  es 
cort  for  Mrs.  Davies,  whose  pet  fad  was  to  have  as 
many  young  people  as  possible  bring  her  home  from 
any  place. 

The  young  man  from  back  home  took  his  plunge  into 
that  vortex  with  becoming  steadiness.  Gail  had  looked 
to  see  him  a  trifle  bewildered,  and  would  have  had  small 
criticism  for  him  if  he  had,  but  he  greeted  them  all  on 
a  friendly  basis,  and,  sitting  down  again  beside  her, 
crossed  his  legs,  while  Mrs.  Davies  calmly  lorgnetted 
him. 


66  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"Where's  the  baby?"  demanded  handsome  Dick 
Rodley,  heading  for  the  stairs. 

"  Silly,  you  mustn't !  "  cried  Lucile,  and  started  after 
him.  "  Flakes  should  be  asleep  at  this  hour." 

"  I  came  in  for  the  sole  purpose  of  teaching  Flakes 
the  turkey  trot,"  declared  handsome  Dick,  and  ran 
away,  followed  by  Lucile. 

"  Lucile's  becoming  passe,"  criticised  Ted.  "  She's 
flirting  with  Rodley  for  the  second  time." 

"  Can  you  blame  her?  "  defended  Arly,  stealing  a 
surreptitious  glance  at  the  young  man  from  back  home, 
then  the  devil  of  mischief  seized  her  and  she  leaned  for 
ward.  "Do  you  flirt,  Mr.  Clemmens?  " 

For  once  the  easy  assurance  of  Howard  left  him,  and 
he  blushed.  The  stiff,  but  kindly  disposed  Van  Ploon 
came  to  his  rescue. 

"  Perhaps  Mr.  Clemmens  is  not  yet  married,"  he 
suggested. 

To  save  him,  Clemmens,  used,  under  any  circum 
stances,  to  the  easy  sang  froid  of  the  insurance  busi 
ness,  could  not  keep  himself  from  turning  to  Gail  with 
accusing  horror  in  his  eyes.  Was  this  the  sort  of  com 
pany  she  kept?  He  glanced  over  at  Arly  Fosland. 
She  was  sitting  in  the  deep  corner  of  her  favourite 
couch,  nursing  a  slender  ankle,  and  even  her  shining 
black  hair,  to  say  nothing  of  her  shining  black  eyes, 
seemed  to  be  snapping  with  wicked  delight.  It  was 
so  unusual  to  find  a  young  man  one  could  shock. 

Lucile  and  handsome  Dick  came  struggling  down  the 
stairway  with  Flakes  between  them,  and  Gail  sprang 
instantly  to  take  the  bewildered  puppy  from  them  both. 
Little  blonde  Lucile  gave  up  her  interest  to  the  prior 
right,  but  Rodley  pretended  to  be  obstinate  about  it. 
His  deep  eyes  burned  down  into  Gail's,  as  he  stoorj 


THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN       67 

bending  above  her,  and  his  smile,  to  Howard's  concen 
trated  gaze,  had  in  it  that  dangerous  fascination  which 
few  women  could  resist !  Gail  was  positively  smiling 
up  into  his  eyes ! 

"  Tableau !  "  called  Ted.  "  All  ready  for  the  next 
reel." 

"  Hold  it  a  while,"  begged  Arly,  and  even  the  young 
man  from  home  was  forced  to  admit  that  the  picture 
was  handsome  enough  to  be  retained.  The  Adonis- 
like  Dick,  with  his  black  hair  and  black  eyes,  his  curly 
black  moustache  and  his  black  goatee,  his  pink  cheeks 
and  his  white  teeth ;  Gail,  gracefully  erect,  her  head 
thrown  back,  her  brown  hair  waving  and  her  eyes  danc 
ing;  the  Adonis  bending  over  her  and  the  fluffy  white 
Flakes  between  them;  it  was  painfully  beautiful;  and 
Mr.  Clemmens  suddenly  regretted  his  square-toed  shoes 
and  his  business  suit. 

"  Children,  go  home,"  suddenly  commanded  Mrs. 
Davies.  "  Dick,  put  the  dog  back  where  you  found 
it." 

"  I  suppose  we'll  have  to  go  home,"  drawled  Ted. 
"  Dick,  put  back  that  dog." 

"  Put  away  the  dog,  Dick,"  ordered  the  heavier  voice 
of  young  Van  Ploon.  "  Come  along,  Gail,  I'll  put  him 
away." 

At  his  approach,  Dick  placed  the  puppy,  with  great 
care,  in  Gail's  charge,  and  took  her  arm.  Van  Ploon 
took  her  other  arm,  and  together  the  trio,  laughing, 
went  away  to  return  Flakes  to  his  bed.  They  clung 
to  her  most  affectionately,  bending  over  her  on  either 
side;  and  they  called  her  Gail! 

The  others  were  ready  to  go  when  they  returned 
from  the  collie  nursery,  and  the  three  young  men  stood 
for  a  moment  in  a  row  near  the  door.  Gail  Jooked 


68  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

them  over  with  a  puzzled  expression.  What  was  there 
about  them  which  was  so  attractive?  Was  it  poise, 
sureness,  polish,  breeding,  experience,  insolence,  groom 
ing —  what?  Even  the  stiff  Van  Ploon  seemed  smooth 
of  bearing  to-night ! 

"  Come  home,  Gail,"  begged  Clemmens,  when  the 
noisy  party  had  laughed  its  way  out  of  the  door  and 
Aunt  Helen  Davies  had  gone  upstairs. 

She  knew  what  was  in  his  mind,  but  compassion  over 
came  her  resentment,  because  there  was  suffering  in  his 
voice  and  in  his  eyes.  She  smiled  on  him  forgivingly, 
and  did  not  withdraw  the  hand  he  took  again. 

"  New  York's  an  evil  place,"  he  urged.  "  Who  are 
these  friends  of  yours?"  and  he  looked  at  her  accus 
ingly- 

"  Why,  they  are  tremendously  nice  people, 
Howard,"  she  told  him,  forgiving  him  again  because  he 
did  not  understand.  "  Lucile  is  the  pretty  cousin 
about  whom  I  wrote  you,  Ted  is  her  husband,  and  the 
others  are  their  friends." 

"  I  don't  like  them,"  he  rather  sternly  said.  "  They 
are  not  fit  company  for  you.  They  see  no  sacredness 
in  marriage,  with  their  open  flirting." 

"  Why,  Howard,  that's  only  a  joke.  Ted  and  Lucile 
are  exceptionally  devoted  to  each  other."  She  turned 
and  studied  him  seriously.  Was  he  smaller  of  stature 
than  he  had  seemed  back  home,  or  what  was  it? 

They  still  were  standing  in  the  hall,  and  the  front 
door  opened. 

"  Brought  you  a  prodigal,"  hailed  Uncle  Jim,  slip 
ping  his  latchkey  in  his  pocket  as  he  held  the  door  open 
for  the  prodigal  in  question.  "  Hello,  Clemmens. 
When  did  you  blow  in  ?  "  and  he  advanced  to  shake 
hands. 


THE  IMPULSIVE  YOUNG  MAN        69 

Gail  was  watching  the  doorway.  Some  one  outside 
was  vigorously  stamping  his  feet.  The  prodigal  came 
in,  and  proved  to  be  Allison,  buoyant  of  step,  sparkling 
of  eye,  firm  of  jaw,  and  ruddy  from  the  night  wind. 
Smiling  with  the  sureness  of  welcome,  he  came  eagerly 
up  to  Gail,  and  took  her  hand,  retaining  it  until  she 
felt  compelled  to  withdraw  it,  recognising  again  that 
thrill.  The  barest  trace  of  a  flush  came  into  her  cheeks, 
and  paled  again. 

"  Allison,  meet  one  of  Chubsy's  friends  from  home," 
called  Uncle  Jim.  "  Mr.  Allison,  Mr.  Clemmens." 

As  the  two  shook  hands,  Gail  turned  again  to  the 
young  man  from  back  home.  Yes,  he  had  grown 
smaller. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THEY    HAD    ALREADY    SPOILED    HER  ! 

GAIL  faltered  when,  after  bidding  good-night  to 
her  uncle  and  to  Allison,  she  turned  and  met  the 
look  in  Howard  Clemmens'  eyes.  She  knew  that  the 
inevitable  moment  had  arrived.  He  Avalked  straight  up 
to  her,  and  there  was  a  new  dignity  in  him,  a  new 
strength,  a  new  resolve.  For  a  moment,  as  he  ad 
vanced,  she  thought  that  he  was  about  to  put  his  arms 
around  her,  but  he  did  not.  Instead,  he  took  her  hand, 
in  his  old  characteristic  way,  and  led  her  into  the  li 
brary,  and  seated  her  on  the  couch,  and  sat  beside  her. 

"  Gail,  come  home  with  me,"  he  said,  authoritative 
but  kind.  He  had  been  her  recognised  suitor  from 
childhood.  He  had  shut  out  all  the  other  boys. 

She  withdrew  her  hand,  but  without  deliberate  intent. 
She  had  felt  the  instinctive  and  imperative  need  of  touch 
ing  her  two  hands  together  in  her  lap. 

"  You're  asking  something  impossible,  Howard,"  she 
returned,  quietly.  Her  voice  was  low,  and  her  beauti 
ful  brown  eyes,  half  veiled  by  their  long  lashes,  were 
watching  the  play  of  light  in  a  ruby  on  one  of  her  fin 
gers.  She  was  deep  in  abstracted  thought,  struggling 
vaguely  with  problems  which  he  could  not  know,  and 
of  which  she  herself  was  as  yet  but  dimly  conscious. 

"  Come  home,  and  marry  me."  Perfectly  patient, 
perfectly  confident,  perfectly  gentle.  He  reached  for 
her  hand  again,  and  took  them  both,  still  clasped,  in  his 

70 


THEY  HAD  SPOILED  HER!          71 

own.  "  Gail,  we've  waited  quite  long  enough.  It's  not 
doing  either  one  of  us  any  good  for  you  to  be  here.  The 
best  thing  is  for  us  to  be  married  right  now." 

For  the  first  time  she  turned  her  eyes  full  upon  him. 

"  You  are  taking  a  great  deal  for  granted,  Howard," 
and  she  wore  a  calm  decision  which  he  had  not  before 
seen  in  her.  "  There  has  never  been  any  agreement  be 
tween  us." 

"  There  has  been  an  understanding,"  he  retorted,  re 
leasing  her  unresponsive  hands  and  looking  her  squarely 
in  the  eyes,  with  a  slight  frown  on  his  brow. 

"  Never,"  she  incisively  reminded  him,  and  her  pi 
quant  chin  pointed  upwards.  "  I've  always  told  you 
that  I  could  make  no  promises." 

That  came  as  a  shock  and  a  surprise.  It  could  not 
be  possible  that  she  did  not  care  for  him ! 

"  Why,  Gail  dear,  I  love  you !  "  he  suddenly  told  her, 
with  more  fervour  than  she  had  ever  heard  in  his  tone. 
He  slipped  from  the  edge  of  the  couch  to  his  knee  on 
the  floor,  where  he  could  look  up  into  her  downcast  eyes. 
He  put  his  arm  around  her,  and  drew  her  closer.  He 
clasped  her  hands  in  his  own  strong  palm.  "  Listen, 
Gail  dear ;  we  grew  up  together."  He  was  tender  now, 
tender  and  pleading,  and  his  voice  had  in  it  ranges  of 
modulation  which  it  had  never  developed  before  this 
night.  "  You  were  my  very  first  sweetheart ;  and  the 
only  one.  Even  as  a  boy  in  school,  when  you  were  only 
a  little  kiddie,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  marry  you,  and 
I've  never  given  up  that  dream.  All  my  life  I've  loved 
you,  stronger  and  deeper  as  the  years  went  on,  until 
now  the  love  that  is  in  me  sways  every  thought,  every 
action,  every  emotion.  I  love  you,  Gail  dear!  All  my 
heart  and  all  my  soul  is  in  it." 

She  had  not  drawn  away  from  his  embrace,  she  had 


72  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

not  removed  her  hands  from  his  clasp ;  instead,  she  had 
yielded  somewhat  towards  this  old  friend. 

"  I  can't  do  without  you  any  longer,  Gail !  "  he  im 
petuously  went  on,  detecting  that  yielding  in  her. 
"  You  must  marry  me !  Tell  me  that  you  will !  " 

She  disengaged  herself  from  him  very  gently. 

"  I  can't,  Howard."  Her  voice  was  so  low  that  he 
could  scarcely  catch  the  words,  and  her  face  was  filled 
with  sorrow. 

He  held  tense  and  rigid  where  she  had  left  him. 

"  You  can't,"  he  repeated,  numbly. 

"  It  is  impossible,"  and  her  face  cleared  of  all  its  per 
plexity.  She  was  grave,  and  serious,  and  saddened; 
but  still  sure.  "  For  the  first  time  I  know  my  own  mind 
clearly,  and  I  know  that  I  do  not  now,  and  never  can, 
care  for  you  in  the  way  you  wish." 

He  rose  abruptly  and  stood  before  her.  His  brows 
were  knotted,  and  there  was  a  hard  look  on  his  face. 

"  I  came  too  late !  "  he  bitterly  charged.  "  They've 
already  spoiled  you !  " 

Gail  sprang  from  the  couch,  and  a  round  red  spot 
flashed  into  each  cheek.  She  had  never  looked  so  beau 
tiful  as  when  she  stood  before  him,  her  tiny  fists  clenched 
and  her  eyes  blazing.  She  almost  replied  to  him,  then 
she  rang  the  bell  for  the  butler,  and  hurried  upstairs. 
Wild  as  was  her  tumult,  she  stood  with  her  hand  on  the 
knob  of  her  dressing-room  until  she  heard  the  front  door 
open  and  close ;  then  she  ran  in  and  threw  herself  down 
ward  on  the  chintz-covered  divan,  and  cried! 

She  sat  up  presently,  and  remembered  that  the  dove- 
coloured  gown  was  her  pet.  With  a  quite  characteris 
tic  ability  of  self-segregation,  she  put  out  of  her  mind, 
except  for  the  dull  ache  of  it,  the  tangled  vortex  of  dis 
tress  until  she  had  changed  her  garments  and  let  down 


THEY  HAD  SPOILED  HER!          73 

her  waving  hair,  and,  disdaining  the  help  of  her  maid, 
performed  all  the  little  nightly  duties,  to  the  putting 
away  of  her  clothing.  Then,  in  a  perfectly  neat  and 
orderly  boudoir,  she  sat  down  to  take  herself  seriously 
in  hand. 

First  of  all,  there  was  Howard.  She  must  cleanse 
her  conscience  of  him  for  all  time  to  come.  In  just 
how  far  had  she  encouraged  him;  in  how  far  was  he 
justified  in  assuming  there  to  be  an  "understanding" 
between  them?  It  was  true  that  they  had  grown  up 
together.  It  was  true  that,  from  the  first  moment  she 
had  begun  to  be  entertained  by  young  men,  she  had  per 
mitted  him  to  be  her  most  frequent  escort.  She  had 
liked  him  better  than  all  the  others ;  had  trusted  him, 
relied  on  him,  commanded  him.  Perhaps  she  had  been 
selfish  in  that ;  but  no,  she  had  given  at  least  as  much 
pleasure  as  she  had  received  in  that  companionship. 
More;  for  as  her  beauty  had  ripened  with  her  years, 
Howard  had  been  more  and  more  exacting  in  his  jeal 
ousy,  in  his  claims  upon  her  for  the  rights  and  the  re 
wards  of  past  service.  Had  she  been  guilty  in  sub 
mitting  to  this  mild  form  of  dictatorship,  and,  by  per 
mitting  it,  had  she  vested  in  him  the  right  to  expect  it? 
Possibly.  She  set  that  weakness  to  one  side,  as  a  mark 
against  her. 

Then  had  come  the  age  of  ardour,  when  a  more  seri 
ous  note  crept  into  their  relation.  It  was  the  natural 
end  and  aim  of  all  girls  to  become  married,  and,  as  she 
blossomed  into  the  full  flower  of  her  young  womanhood, 
this  end  and  aim  had  been  constantly  borne  in  on  her 
by  all  her  friends  and  relatives,  by  her  parents,  her  girl 
chums,  and  by  Howard.  They  had  convinced  her  that 
this  was  the  case,  and,  in  consequence,  the  logical  candi 
date  was  the  young  man  who  had  expended  all  his  time 


74  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

and  energy  in  trying  to  please  her.  How  much  of  a 
debt  was  that?  Well,  it  was  an  obligation,  she  gravely 
considered,  with  her  dimpled  chin  in  her  hand.  An  ob 
ligation  which  should  be  repaid  —  with  grateful  friend 
ship. 

She  was  compelled  to  admit,  being  an  honest  and  a 
just  young  person,  that  at  various  times  she  had  her 
self  considered  Howard  Clemmens  the  logical  candi 
date.  She  must  be  married  some  time,  and  Howard  was 
the  most  congenial  young  man  of  all  her  acquaintance. 
He  was  of  an  excellent  family,  had  proved  his  right  to 
exist  by  the  fact  that  he  had  gone  into  business  when 
he  had  plenty  of  money  to  live  in  idleness,  was  well- 
mannered,  cheerful,  good-natured,  self-sacrificing,  and 
an  adorer  whose  admiration  was  consistent  and  unfal 
tering.  Even  —  she  confessed  this  to  herself  with  self- 
resentment  for  having  confessed  it  —  even  at  the  time 
she  had  left  for  New  York,  she  had  been  fairly  well  set 
tled  in  her  mind  that  she  would  come  back,  and  invite 
all  her  hosts  of  friends  to  see  her  marry  Howard,  and 
they  would  build  a  new  house  just  the  way  she  wanted 
it,  and  entertain,  and  some  day  she  would  be  a  promi 
nent  member  of  the  Browning  Circle. 

However,  she  had  never,  by  any  single  syllable, 
hinted  to  Howard,  or  any  one  else,  that  this  might  be 
the  case,  and  her  only  fault  could  lie  in  thinking  it. 
Now,  just  how  far  could  Howard  divine  this  mental  at 
titude,  and  just  how  far  might  that  mental  attitude  in 
fluence  her  actions  and  general  bearing  toward  Howard, 
so  that  he  might  be  justified  in  feeling  that  there  was 
an  actual  understanding  between  them? 

She  did  not  know.  She  was  only  sure  that  she  was 
perfectly  miserable.  She  had  yielded  to  a  fit  of  im 
petuous  anger,  and  had  sent  away  her  lifelong  friend 


THEY  HAD  SPOILED  HER!          75 

without  a  word  of  good-bye,  and  he  had  been  a  dear, 
good  fellow  who  had  been  ready  to  bark,  or  fetch  and 
carry,  or  lie  down  and  roll  over,  at  the  word  of  com 
mand  ;  and  they  had  been  together  so  much,  and  he  had 
always  been  so  kind  and  considerate  and  generous,  and 
he  was  from  back  home,  and  he  did  really  and  truly  love 
her  very  much,  and  she  was  homesick;  and  she  cried 
again. 

She  sat  upright  with  a  jerk,  and  dabbed  her  eyes  with 
a  handkerchief,  which  was  composed  of  one  square  inch 
of  linen  entirely  surrounded  by  embroidered  holes.  She 
had  been  perfectly  right  in  sending  Howard  away  with 
out  a  good-bye.  He  had  insulted  her  friends  and  her, 
most  grossly ;  he  had  been  nasty  and  unreasonable ;  he 
had  been  presumptuous  and  insolent ;  his  voice  was  harsh 
and  he  had  crossed  his  legs  in  a  fashion  which  showed 
his  square-toed  shoe  at  an  ugly  angle.  She  had  never 
seen  anybody  cross  his  legs  in  just  that  way.  "  They 
had  spoiled  her  already  !  "  Indeed !  Why  had  she  not 
waited  long  enough  to  assert  herself?  Why  had  she 
not  told  him  what  a  conceited  creature  he  was?  Why 
had  she  not  said  all  the  hot,  bitter,  stinging  things  which 
had  popped  into  her  mind  at  the  time?  There  were 
half  a  dozen  better  and  more  scornful  ways  in  which 
she  could  have  sent  him  away  than  by  merely  calling 
the  butler  and  running  upstairs.  She  might  even  have 
stretched  out  her  hand  imperiously  and  said  "  Go !  " 
upon  which  thought  she  laughed  at  herself,  and  dabbed 
her  eyes  with  that  absurdity  which  she  called  a  hand 
kerchief. 

There  was  knock  at  the  door  and,  on  invitation,  the 
tall  and  stately  Mrs.  Helen  Davies  came  in,  frilled  and 
ruffled  for  the  night.  She  found  the  dainty,  little  guest 
boudoir  in  green  tinted  dimness.  Gail  had  turned 


76  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

down  all  the  lights  in  the  room  except  the  green  lamps 
under  the  canopy,  and  she  sat  on  the  divan,  with  her 
brown  hair  rippling  about  her  shoulders,  her  knees 
clasped  in  her  arms,  and  her  dainty  little  boudoir  slip 
pers  peeping  from  her  flowing  pink  negligee,  while  the 
dim  green  light,  suited  to  her  present  sombre  reflec 
tions,  only  enhanced  the  clear  pink  of  her  complexion. 
Mrs.  Davies  sat  down  in  front  of  her. 

"  Mr.  Clemmens  proposed  to  you  to-night,"  she 
charged,  gleaning  that  fact  from  experienced  observa 
tion. 

Gail  nodded  her  head. 

"  I  hope  you  did  not  accept  him." 

The  brown  ripples  shook  sidewise. 

"  I  was  quite  certain  that  you  would  not,"  and  the 
older  woman's  tone  was  one  of  distinct  relief.  "  In 
fact,  I  did  not  see  how  you  could.  The  young  man  is 
in  no  degree  a  match  for  you." 

There  was  a  contemptuous  disapproval  in  her  tone 
which  brought  Gail's  head  up. 

"  You  don't  know  Howard !  "  she  flared.  "  He  is  one 
of  the  nicest  young  men  at  home.  He  is  perfectly  good 
and  kind  and  dear,  and  I  was  hateful  to  him !  "  and 
Gail's  chin  quivered. 

Aunt  Helen  rendered  first  aid  to  the  injured  in  the 
tenderest  of  manners.  She  moved  over  to  the  other  side 
of  Gail  where  she  could  surround  her,  and  laid  the  brown 
head  on  her  shoulder. 

"  I  know  just  how  you  feel,"  she  soothingly  said. 
"  You've  had  to  refuse  to  marry  a  good  friend,  and  you 
are  reproaching  yourself  because  you  were  compelled  to 
hurt  him.  Of  course  you  are  unfair  to  yourself,  and 
you  feel  perfectly  miserable,  and  you  will  for  a  while; 
but  the  main  point  is  that  you  refused  him." 


THEY  HAD  SPOILED  HER!  77 

Gail,  whose  quick  intelligence  no  intonation  escaped, 
lay  comfortably  on  Aunt  Helen's  shoulder,  and  a  clear 
little  laugh  rippled  up.  She  could  not  see  the  smile 
of  satisfaction  and  relief  with  which  Aunt  Helen  Davies 
received  that  laugh. 

"  My  dear,  I  am  quite  well  pleased  with  you,"  went 
on  the  older  woman.  "  If  you  handle  all  your  affairs 
so  sensibly,  you  have  a  brilliant  future  before  you." 

Gail's  eyelids  closed ;  the  long,  brown  lashes  curved 
down  on  her  cheeks,  revealing  just  a  sparkle  of  bright 
ness,  while  the  mischievous  little  smile  twitched  at  the 
corners  of  her  lips. 

"  If  you  were  an  ordinary  girl,  I  would  urge  you,  to 
night,  to  make  a  selection  among  the  exceptionally  ex 
cellent  matrimonial  material  of  which  you  have  a  choice, 
but,  with  your  extraordinary  talents  and  beauty,  my 
advice  is  just  to  the  contrary.  You  should  delay  until 
you  have  had  a  wider  opportunity  for  judgment.  You 
have  not  as  yet  shown  any  marked  preference,  I 
hope." 

Gail's  quite  unreasoning  impulse  was  to  giggle,  but 
she  clothed  her  voice  demurely. 

"  No,  Aunt  Helen." 

"  You  are  remarkably  wise,"  complimented  Aunt 
Helen,  a  bit  of  appreciation  which  quite  checked  Gail's 
impulse  to  giggle.  "  In  the  meantime,  it  is  just  as  well 
to  study  your  opportunities.  Of  course  there's  Dick 
Rodley,  whom  no  one  considers  seriously,  and  Willis 
Cunningham,  whose  one  and  only  drawback  is  such  ques 
tionable  health  that  he  might  persistently  interfere  with 
your  social  activities.  Houston  Van  Ploon,  I  am  frank 
to  say,  is  the  most  eligible  of  all,  and  to  have  attracted 
his  attention  is  a  distinct  triumph.  Mr.  Allison,  while 
rather  advanced  in  years  — " 


78  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Please !  "  cried  Gail.    "  You'd  think  I  was  a  horse." 

"  I  know  just  how  you  feel,"  stated  Aunt  Helen,  en 
tirely  unruffled ;  "  but  you  have  your  future  to  consider, 
and  I  wish  to  invite  your  confidence,"  and  in  her  voice 
there  was  the  quaver  of  much  concern. 

"  Thank  you,  Aunt  Helen,"  said  Gail,  realising  the 
sincerity  of  the  older  woman's  intentions,  and,  putting 
her  arms  around  Mrs.  Davies'  neck,  she  kissed  her.  "  It 
is  dear  of  you  to  take  so  much  interest." 

"  I  think  it's  pride,"  confessed  Mrs.  Davies,  nai'vely. 
"  I  won't  keep  you  up  a  minute  longer,  Gail.  Go  to 
bed,  and  get  all  the  sleep  you  can.  Only  sleep  will 
keep  those  roses  in  your  cheeks.  Good-night,"  and 
with  a  parting  caress,  she  went  to  her  own  room,  with 
a  sense  of  a  duty  well  performed. 

Gail  smiled  retrospectively,  and  tried  the  blue  light 
under  the  canopy  lamp,  but  turned  it  out  immediately. 
The  green  gave  a  much  better  effect  of  moonlight  on 
the  floor. 

She  called  herself  back  out  of  the  mists  of  her  previ 
ous  distress.  Who  was  this  Gail,  and  what  was  she? 
There  had  come  a  new  need  in  her,  a  new  awakening. 
Something  seemed  to  have  changed  in  her,  to  have  crys 
tallised.  Whatever  this  crystallisation  was,  it  had 
made  her  know  that  she  could  not  marry  Howard  Clem- 
mens.  It  had  made  her  know,  too,  that  marriage  was 
not  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  mere  inevitable  social  epi 
sode.  Her  thoughts  flew  back  to  Aunt  Helen.  Her 
eyelashes  brushed  her  cheeks,  and  the  little  smile  of  sar 
casm  twitched  the  corners  of  her  lips. 

Aunt  Helen's  list  of  eligibles.  Gail  reviewed  them 
now  deliberately ;  not  with  the  thought  of  the  social 
advantages  they  might  offer  her,  but  as  men.  She  re 
viewed  others  whom  she  had  met.  For  the  first  time 


THEY  HAD  SPOILED  HER!  79 

in  her  life,  she  was  frankly  and  self-consciously  inter 
ested  in  men  ;  curious  about  them.  She  had  reached  her 
third  stage  of  development;  the  fairy  prince  age,  the 
"  I  suppose  I  shall  have  to  be  married  one  day  "  age, 
and  now  the  age  of  conscious  awakening.  She  won 
dered,  in  some  perplexity,  as  to  what  had  brought  about 
her  nasence ;  rather,  and  she  knitted  her  pretty  brows, 
who  had  brought  it  about. 

The  library  clock  chimed  the  hour,  and  startled  her 
out  of  her  reverie.  She  turned  on  the  lights,  and  sat 
in  front  of  her  mirror  to  give  her  hair  one  of  those  extra 
brushings  for  which  it  was  so  grateful,  and  which  it 
repaid  with  so  much  beauty.  She  paused  deliberately 
to  study  herself  in  the  glass.  Why,  this  was  a  new 
Gail,  a  more  potent  Gail.  What  was  it  Allison  had  said 
about  her  potentialities?  Allison.  Strong,  forceful, 
aggressive  Allison.  He  was  potence  itself.  A  thrill 
of  his  handclasp  clung  with  her  yet,  and  a  slight  flush 
crept  into  her  cheeks. 

Aunt  Grace  had  worried  about  Jim's  little  cold,  and 
the  distant  mouse  she  thought  she  heard,  and  the  sil 
ver  chest,  and  Lucile's  dangerous  looking  new  horse, 
until  all  these  topics  had  failed,  when  she  detected  the 
unmistakable  click  of  a  switchbutton  near  by.  It  must 
be  in  Gail's  suite.  Hadn't  the  child  retired  yet?  She 
lay  quite  still  pondering  that  mighty  question  for  ten 
minutes,  and  then,  unable  to  rest  any  longer,  she  slipped 
out  of  bed  and  across  the  hall.  There  was  no  light 
coming  from  under  the  doors  of  either  the  boudoir 
or  the  bedroom,  so  Aunt  Grace  peeped  into  the  latter 
apartment,  then  she  tiptoed  softly  away.  Gail,  in  her 
cascade  of  pink  flufferies,  was  at  the  north  window, 
kneeling,  with  her  earnest  face  upturned  to  one  bright 
pale  star. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

STILL   PIECING    OUT    THE    WORLD 

THE  map  of  the  United  States  in  Edward  E.  Alli 
son's  library  began,  now,  to  develop  little  streaks 
of  red.  They  were  not  particularly  long  streaks,  but 
they  were  boldly  marked,  and  they  hugged,  with  ex 
traordinary  closeness,  the  pencil  mark  which  Allison  had 
drawn  from  New  York  to  Chicago  and  from  Chicago 
to  San  Francisco.  There  were  long  gaps  between 
them,  but  these  did  not  seem  to  worry  him  very  much. 
It  was  the  little  stretches,  sometimes  scarcely  over  an 
inch,  which  he  drew  with  such  evident  pleasure  from 
day  to  day,  and  now,  occasionally,  as  he  passed  in  and 
out,  he  stopped  by  the  big  globe  and  gave  it  a  con 
templative  whirl.  On  the  day  he  joined  his  far  west- 
tern  group  of  little  marks  by  bridging  three  small  gaps, 
he  received  a  caller  in  the  person  of  a  short,  well- 
dressed,  old  man,  who  walked  with  a  cane  and  looked 
half  asleep,  by  reason  of  the  many  puffs  which  had  piled 
up  under  his  eyes  and  nearly  closed  them. 

"  I'm  ready  to  wind  up,  Tim,"  remarked  Allison,  of 
fering  his  caller  a  cigar,  and  lighting  one  himself. 
"  When  can  we  have  that  Vedder  Court  property  con 
demned?  " 

"  Whenever  you  give  the  word,"  reported  Tim  Cor- 
man,  who  spoke  with  an  asthmatic  voice,  and  with  the 
quiet  dignity  of  a  man  who  had  borne  grave  business 
responsibilities,  and  had  borne  them  well. 

80 


STILL  PIECING  OUT  THE  WORLD     81 

Allison  nodded  his  head  in  satisfaction. 

"  You're  sure  there  can't  be  any  hitch  in  it." 

"  Not  if  I  say  it's  all  right,"  and  the  words  were 
Tim's  only  reproof.  His  tone  was  perfectly  level,  and 
there  was  no  glint  in  his  eyes.  Offended  dignity  had 
nothing  to  do  with  business.  "  Give  me  one  week's  no 
tice,  and  the  Vedder  Court  property  will  be  condemned 
for  the  city  terminal  of  the  Municipal  Transportation 
Company.  Appraisement,  thirty-one  million." 

"  I  only  wanted  to  be  reassured,"  apologised  Allison. 
"  I  took  your  word  that  you  could  swing  it  when  I  made 
my  own  gamble,  but  now  I  have  to  drag  other  people 
into  it." 

"  That's  right,"  agreed  Tim.  "  I  never  get  of 
fended  over  straight  business."  In  other  times  Tim 
Gorman  would  have  said  "  get  sore,"  but,  as  he  neared 
the  end  of  his  years  of  useful  activity,  he  was  making 
quite  a  specialty  of  refinement,  and  stocking  a  picture 
gallery,  and  becoming  a  connoisseur  collector  of  rare 
old  jewels.  He  dressed  three  times  a  day. 

"How  about  the  Crescent  Island  subway?" 

"  Ripe  any  time,"  and  Tim  Corman  flecked  the  ashes 
from  his  cigar  with  a  heavily  gemmed  hand.  "  The 
boosters  have  been  working  on  it  right  along,  but  never 
too  strong." 

"  There's  no  need  for  any  particular  manipulation 
in  that,"  decided  Allison,  who  knew  the  traction  situa 
tion  to  the  last  nickel.  "  The  city  needs  that  outlet, 
and  it  needs  the  new  territory  which  will  be  opened  up. 
I  think  we'd  better  push  the  subway  right  on  across 
to  the  mainland.  The  extension  would  have  to  be  made 
in  ten  years  anyhow." 

"  It's  better  right  now,"  immediately  assented  Cor 
man.  In  ten  years  he  might  be  dead. 


82  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  I  think,  too,  that  we'd  better  provide  for  a  heavy 
future  expansion,"  went  on  Allison,  glancing  expec 
tantly  into  Tim's  old  eyes.  "  We'd  probably  better 
provide  for  a  double  deck,  eight  track  tube." 

Tim  Gorman  drew  a  wheezy  breath,  and  then  he 
grinned  the  senile  shadow  of  his  old-time  grin ;  but  it 
still  had  the  same  spirit. 

"  You  got  a  hen  on,"  he  deduced.  In  "  society," 
Tim  could  manage  very  nicely  to  use  fashionable 
language,  but,  in  business,  he  found  it  impossible 
after  the  third  or  fourth  minute  of  conversation. 
He  had  taken  in  every  detail  of  the  room  on  his  en 
trance,  and  his  glance  had  strayed  more  than  once  to 
the  red  streaks  on  the  big  map.  Now  he  approached 
it,  and  studied  it  with  absorbed  interest.  "  You're  a 
smart  boy,  Ed,"  he  concluded.  "  Across  Crescent  Is 
land  is  the  only  leak  where  you  could  snake  in  a  rail 
road.  You  found  the  only  crack  that  the  big  systems 
haven't  tied  up." 

"  All  you  can  get  me  to  admit,  just  now,  is  that  the 
city  needs  an  eight-track  tube  across  Crescent  Island, 
under  lease  to  the  Municipal  Transportation  Com 
pany,"  stated  Allison,  smiling  with  gratification.  A 
compliment  of  this  sort  from  shrewd  old  Tim  Corman, 
who  was  reputed  to  be  the  foxiest  man  in  the  world,  was 
a  tribute  highly  flattering. 

"  That's  right,"  approved  Tim.  "  All  I  know  is  a 
guess,  and  I  don't  tell  guesses.  This  is  a  big  job, 
though,  Eddie.  A  subway  to  Crescent  Island,  under 
proper  restrictions,  is  just  an  ordinary  year's  work  for 
the  boys,  but  this  tube  pokes  its  nose  into  Oakland  Bay." 

"  I'm  quite  aware  of  the  size  of  the  job,"  chuckled  Al 
lison.  "  However,  Tim,  there'll  be  money  enough  be 
hind  this  proposition  to  fill  that  tube  with  greenbacks." 


STILL  PIECING  OUT  THE  WORLD     83 

Between  the  narrow-slitted  and  puffy  eyelids  of 
Tim  Gorman  there  gleamed  a  trace  of  the  old-time 
genii. 

"  Then  it's  built."  He  rose  and  leaned  on  his  cane, 
twinkling  down  on  the  man  who,  years  before,  he  had 
picked  as  a  "  comer."  "  I've  heard  people  say  that 
money's  wicked,  but  they  never  had  any.  When  I  die, 
and  go  down  to  the  big  ferry,  if  the  Old  Boy  comes 
along  and  offers  me  enough  money,  I'll  go  to  Hell." 

Still  laughing,  Allison  telephoned  to  the  offices  of  the 
Midcontinent  Railroad,  and  dashed  out  to  his  runabout 
just  in  time  to  see  Tim  Gorman  driving  around  the  cor 
ner  in  his  liveried  landau.  He  found  in  President  Ur- 
bank,  of  the  Midcontinent,  a  spare  man  who  had  worn 
three  vertical  creases  in  his  brow  over  one  thwarted  am 
bition.  His  rich  but  sprawling  railroad  system  ran 
fairly  straight  after  it  was  well  started  for  Chicago, 
and  fairly  straight  from  that  way-point  until  it  became 
drunken  with  the  monotony  of  the  western  foot-hills, 
where  it  gangled  and  angled  its  way  to  the  far  south 
and  around  up  the  Pacific  coast,  arriving  there  dusty 
and  rattling,  after  a  thousand  mile  detour  from  its 
course  —  but  that  road  had  no  direct  entrance  into 
New  York  city.  It  approached  from  the  north,  and  was 
compelled  to  circle  completely  around,  over  hired  tracks, 
to  gain  a  ferryboat  entrance.  Passengers  inured  to 
coming  in  over  the  Midcontinent,  which  was  a  well- 
equipped  road  otherwise,  counted  but  half  their  journey 
done  when  they  came  in  sight  of  New  York,  no  matter 
from  what  distance  they  had  come. 

"Out  marketing  for  railroads  to-day,  Gil?"  sug 
gested  Allison. 

"  I  don't  know,"  smiled  Urbank.  "  I  might  look  at 
a  few." 


84  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Here  they  are,"  and  Allison  tossed  him  a  mem 
orandum  slip. 

Urbank  glanced  at  the  slip,  then  he  looked  up  at  Al 
lison  in  perplexity.  He  had  a  funny  forward  angle  to 
his  neck  when  he  was  interested,  and  the  creases 
in  his  brow  were  deepened  until  they  looked  like  cuts. 

"  I  thought  you  were  joking,  and  I'm  still  charitable 
enough  to  think  so.  What's  all  this  junk?  " 

"  Little  remnants  and  job  lots  of  railroads  I've  been 
picking  up,"  and  Allison  drew  forward  his  chair. 
"  Some  I  bought  outright,  and  in  some  I  hold  con 
trol." 

"  If  you're  serious  about  interesting  the  Midconti- 
nent  in  any  of  this  property,  we  don't  need  to  waste 
much  time."  Urbank  leaned  back  and  held  his  knee. 
"  There  are  only  two  of  these  roads  approach  the  Mid- 
continent  system  at  any  point,  and  they  are  useless 
property  so  far  as  we  are  concerned ;  the  L.  and  C.,  in 
the  east,  and  the  Silverknob  and  Nugget  City,  in  the 
west,  which  touches  our  White  Range  branch  at  its 
southern  terminus.  We  couldn't  do  anything  with 
those." 

"  You  landed  on  the  best  ones  right  away,"  smiled 
Allison.  "  However,  I  don't  propose  to  sell  these  to 
the  Midcontinent.  I  propose  to  absorb  the  Midconti- 
nent  with  them." 

Urbank  suddenly  remembered  Allison's  traction  his 
tory,  and  leaned  forward  to  look  at  the  job  lots  and 
remnants  again. 

"  This  list  isn't  complete,"  he  judged,  and  turned  to 
Allison  with  a  serious  question  in  his  eye. 

"  Almost,"  and  Allison  hitched  a  little  closer  to  the 
desk.  "  There  remains  an  aggregate  of  three  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  of  road  to1  be  built  in  four  short 


STILL  PIECING  OUT  THE  WORLD     85 

stretches.  In  addition  to  this,  I  have  a  twenty  year 
contract  over  a  hundred  mile  stretch  of  the  Inland 
Pacific,  a  track  right  entry  into  San  Francisco,  and 
this,"  and  he  displayed  to  Urbank  a  preliminary  copy 
of  an  ordinance,  authorising  the  immediate  building  of 
an  eight  track  tube  through  Crescent  Island  to  the 
mainland.  "  Possibly  you  can  understand  this  whole 
project  better  if  I  show  you  a  map,"  and  he  spread  out 
his  little  pocket  sketch. 

If  it  had  been  possible  to  reverse  the  processes  of 
time  and  worry  and  wearing  concentration,  President 
Urbank,  of  the  Midcontinent,  would  have  raised  from 
his  inspection  of  that  map  with  a  brow  as  smooth  as  a 
baby's.  Instead,  his  lips  went  dry,  as  he  craned  for 
ward  his  neck  at  that  funny  angle,  and  projected  his 
chin  with  the  foolish  motion  of  a  goose. 

"  A  direct  entrance  right  slam  into  the  centre  of 
New  York !  "  he  exclaimed,  cracking  all  his  knuckles 
violently  one  by  one.  "  Vedder  Court !  Where's 
that?" 

"That's  the  best  part  of  the  joke,"  exulted  Allison, 
with  no  thought  that  Vedder  Court  was,  at  this  pres 
ent  moment,  church  property.  "  It's  just  where  you 
said ;  right  slam  in  the  centre  of  New  York ;  and  the 
building  into  which  the  Midcontinent  will  run  its  trains 
will  be  also  the  terminal  building  of  every  municipal 
transportation  line  in  Manhattan !  From  my  station 
platforms,  passengers  from  Chicago  or  the  Far  West 
will  step  directly  into  subway,  L.,  or  trolley.  When 
they  come  in  over  the  line  which  is  now  the  Midconti 
nent,  they  will  be  landed,  not  across  the  river,  or  in 
some  side  street,  but  right  at  their  own  doors,  scattering 
from  the  Midcontinent  terminal  over  a  hundred  trac 
tion  lines !  "  His  voice,  which  had  begun  in  the  mild 


86  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

banter  of  a  man  passing  an  idle  joke,  had  risen  to  a 
ring  so  triumphant  that  he  was  almost  shouting. 

"  But  —  but  — •  wait  a  minute !  "  Urbank  protested. 
He  was  stuttering.  "  Where  does  the  Midcontinent 
get  to  the  Crescent  Island  tube?  " 

"  Right  here,"  and  Allison  pointed  to  his  map.  "  You 
come  out  of  the  tube  to  the  L.  and  C.,  which  has  a  long 
time  tracking  privilege  over  fifty  miles  of  the  Towando 
Valley,  and  terminates  at  Windfield.  At  Forgeson, 
however,  just  ten  miles  after  the  L.  and  L.  leaves  the 
Towando,  that  road  — 

"  Is  crossed  by  our  tracks !  "  Urbank  eagerly  inter 
preted.  "  The  Midcontinent,  after  its  direct  exit,  saves 
a  seventy  mile  detour!  Then  it's  a  straight  shoot  for 
Chicago !  Straight  on  again  out  west  —  Why,  Alli 
son,  your  route  is  almost  as  straight  as  an  arrow!  It 
will  have  a  three  hundred  mile  shorter  haul  than  even 
the  Inland  Pacific !  You'll  put  that  road  out  of  the 
business !  You'll  have  the  king  of  transcontinental 
lines,  and  none  can  ever  be  built  that  will  save  one 
kink !  "  His  neck  protruded  still  further  from  his  col 
lar  as  he  bent  over  the  map.  "  Here  you  split  off  from 
the  Midcontinent's  main  line  and  utilise  the  White 
Range  branch  ;  from  Silverknob  —  My  God !  "  and 
his  mouth  dropped  open.  "  Why  —  why  —  why,  you 
cross  the  big  range  over  the  Inland  Pacific's  own 
tracks!  "  and  his  voice  cracked. 

Edward  E.  Allison,  his  vanity  gratified  to  its  very 
core,  sat  back  comfortably,  smiling  and  smoking,  until 
Urbank  awoke. 

"  I  suppose  we  can  come  to  some  arrangement,"  he 
mildly  suggested. 

Urbank  looked  at  him  still  in  a  daze  for  a  moment, 


STILL  PIECING  OUT  THE  WORLD     87 

and  a  trace  of  the  creases  came  back  into  his  brow, 
then  they  faded  away. 

"  You  figured  all  this  out  before  you  came  to  me," 
he  remarked.     "  On  what  terms  do  we  get  in?  " 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE    MINE    FOR    THE    GOLDEN    ALTAR 

VEDDER  COURT  was  a  very  drunkard  among  ten 
ement  groups.  Its  decrepit  old  wooden  build 
ings,  as  if  weak-kneed  from  dissipation  and  senile 
decay,  leaned  against  each  other  crookedly  for  sup 
port,  and  leered  down,  at  the  sodden  swarms  beneath, 
out  of  broken-paned  windows  which  gave  somehow  a 
ludicrous  effect  of  bleared  eyes.  A  heartless  civic  im 
pulse  had  once  burdened  them  with  fire  escapes,  and 
these,  though  they  were  comparatively  new,  had  al 
ready  partaken  of  the  general  decay,  and  looked,  with 
their  motley  cluttering  of  old  bedding,  and  nondescript 
garments  hung  out  to  dry,  and  various  utensils  of  the 
kitchen  and  laundry,  and  various  unclassified  junk,  as 
if  they  were  a  sort  of  foul,  fungoid  growth  which  had 
taken  root  from  the  unspeakable  uncleanliness  within. 
There  had  once  been  a  narrow  strip  of  curbed  soil  in  the 
centre  of  the  street,  where  three  long-since  departed 
trees  had  given  the  quarter  its  name  of  "  Court,"  but 
this  space  was  now  as  bare  and  dry  as  the  asphalt  sur 
rounding  it,  and,  as  it  was  too  small  even  for  the  pur 
pose  of  children  at  play,  a  wooden  bench,  upon  which 
no  one  ever  sat,  as  indeed  why  should  they,  had  long 
ago  been  placed  on  it,  to  become  loose-jointed  and 
weather-splintered  and  rotted,  like  all  the  rest  of  the 
neighbourhood. 


MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR     89 

As  for  its  tenants ;  they  were  exactly  the  sort  of  birds 
one  might  expect  to  find  in  such  foul  nests.  They  were 
of  many  nations,  but  of  just  two  main  varieties;  stupid 
and  squalid,  or  thin  and  furtive ;  but  they  were  all 
dirty,  and  they  bore,  in  their  complexions,  the  poison 
of  crowded  breathing  spaces,  and  bad  sewerage,  and 
unwholesome  or  insufficient  food. 

Into  this  mire,  on  a  day  when  melting  snow  had 
fallen  and  made  all  underfoot  a  black,  shining,  oily, 
sticky  canal,  there  drove  an  utterly  out-of-place  little 
electric  coupe,  set  low,  and  its  glistening  plate  glass 
windows  hung  with  absurd  little  lace  curtains  held  back 
by  pink  ribbon  bows.  At  the  wheel  was  the  fresh- 
cheeked  Gail  Sargent,  in  a  driving  suit  and  hat  and 
veil  of  brown,  and  with  her  was  the  twinkling-eyed  Ru- 
fus  Manning,  whose  white  beard  rippled  down  to  his 
second  waistcoat  button.  They  drove  slowly  the 
length  of  the  court  and  back  again,  the  girl  studying 
every  detail  with  acute  interest.  They  stopped  in 
front  of  Temple  Mission,  which,  with  its  ugly  red  and 
blue  lettering  nearly  erased  by  years  of  monthly 
scrubbings,  occupied  an  old  store  room  once  used  as  a 
saloon. 

"  So  this  is  the  chrysalis  from  which  the  butterfly 
cathedral  is  to  emerge,"  commented  Gail,  as  Manning 
held  the  door  open  for  her,  and  before  she  rose  she 
peered  again  around  the  uninviting  "  court,"  which  not 
even  the  bright  winter  sunshine  could  relieve  of  its 
dinginess ;  rather,  the  sun  made  it  only  the  more  dis 
mal  by  presenting  the  ugliness  more  in  detail. 

"  This  is  the  mine  which  produces  the  gold  which  is 
to  gild  the  altar,"  assented  Manning,  studying  the  side 
walk.  "  I  don't  think  you'd  better  come  in  here. 
You'll  spoil  your  shoes." 


90  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  I  want  to  see  it  all  this  time  because  I'm  never 
coming  back,"  insisted  Gail,  and  placed  one  daintily 
shod  foot  on  the  step. 

"Then  I'll  have  to  shame  Sir  Walter  Raleigh," 
laughed  the  silvery-bearded  Manning,  and,  to  her 
gasping  surprise,  he  caught  her  around  the  waist  and 
lifted  her  across  to  the  door,  whereat  several  soiled 
urchins  laughed,  and  one  vinegary-faced  old  woman 
grinned,  in  horrible  appreciation,  and  dropped  Man 
ning  a  familiarly  respectful  courtesy. 

There  was  no  one  in  the  mission  except  a  broad- 
shouldered  man  with  a  roughly  hewn  face,  who  ducked 
his  head  at  Manning  and  touched  his  forefinger  to  the 
side  of  his  head.  He  was  placing  huge  soup  kettles 
in  their  holes  in  the  counter  at  the  rear  of  the  room, 
and  Manning  called  attention  to  this. 

"  A  practical  mission,"  he  explained.  "  We  start  in 
by  saving  the  bodies." 

"  Do  you  get  any  further?  "  inquired  Gail,  glancing 
from  the  empty  benches  and  the  atrociously  coloured 
"  religious  "  pictures  on  the  walls  to  the  windows,  past 
which  eddied  a  mass  of  humanity  all  but  submerged  in 
hopelessness. 

"  Sometimes,"  replied  Manning  gravely.  "  I  have 
seen  a  soul  or  two  even  here.  It  is  because  of  these 
two  or  three  possibilities  that  the  mission  is  kept  up. 
It  might  interest  you  to  know  that  Market  Square 
Church  spends  fifteen  thousand  dollars  a  year  in  char 
ity  relief  in  Vedder  Court  alone." 

Gail's  eyelids  closed,  her  lashes  curved  on  her  cheeks 
for  an  instant,  and  the  corners  of  her  lips  twitched. 

"  And  how  much  a  year  does  Market  Square  Church 
take  out  of  Vedder  Court?  " 

"  I    was    waiting    for    that    bit    of    impertinence," 


MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR    91 

laughed  Manning.  "  I  shall  be  surprised  at  nothing 
you  say  since  that  first  day  when  you  characterised 
Market  Square  Church  as  a  remarkably  lucrative  en 
terprise.  Have  you  never  felt  any  compunctions  of 
conscience  over  that?" 

"  Not  once,"  answered  Gail  promptly.  She  had 
started  to  seat  herself  on  one  of  the  empty  benches,  but 
had  changed  her  mind.  "  If  I  had  been  given  to  any 
such  self  injustice,  however,  I  should  reproach  myself 
now.  I  think  Market  Square  Church  not  only  com 
mercial  but  criminal." 

"  I'll  have  to  give  your  soul  a  chastisement,"  smiled 
Manning.  "  These  people  must  live  somewhere,  and 
because  Vedder  Court,  being  church  property,  is  ex 
empt  from  taxation,  they  find  cheaper  rents  here  than 
anywhere  in  the  city.  If  we  were  to  put  up  improved 
buildings,  I  don't  know  where  they  would  go,  because 
we  would  be  compelled  to  charge  more  rent." 

"  In  order  to  make  the  same  rate  of  profit,"  re 
sponded  Gail.  "  Out  of  all  this  misery,  Market  Square 
Church  is  reaping  a  harvest  rich  enough  to  build  a 
fifty  million  dollar  cathedral,  and  I  have  sufficient  dis 
regard  for  the  particular  Deity  under  whom  you  do 
business,  to  feel  sure  that  he  would  not  destroy  it  by 
lightning.  I  want  out  of  here." 

"  Frankly,  so  do  I,"  admitted  Manning ;  "  although 
I'm  ashamed  of  myself.  It's  all  right  for  you,  who  are 
young,  to  be  fastidious,  but  your  Daddy  Manning  is 
coward  enough  to  want  to  make  his  peace  with  Heaven, 
after  a  life  which  put  a  few  blots  on  the  book." 

She  looked  at  him  speculatively  for  a  moment,  and 
then  she  laughed. 

"  You  know,  I  don't  believe  that,  Daddy  Manning. 
You're  an  old  fraud,  who  does  good  by  stealth,  in  order 


92  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

to  gain  the  reputation  of  having  been  picturesquely 
wicked.  Tell  me  why  you  belong  to  Market  Square 
Church." 

"  Because  it's  so  respectable,"  he  twinkled  down 
at  her.  "  When  an  old  sinner  has  lost  every  other 
claim  to  respectability,  he  has  himself  put  on  the  ves- 
try." 

He  dropped  behind  on  their  way  to  the  door,  to  sur 
reptitiously  slip  something,  which  looked  like  money,  to 
the  man  with  the  roughly  hewn  countenance,  and  as  he 
stood  talking,  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  came  in,  not 
quite  breathlessly,  but  as  if  he  had  hurried. 

"  I  knew  you  were  here,"  he  said,  taking  Gail's  slen 
der  hand  in  his  own;  then  his  eyes  turned  cold. 

"  You  recognised  my  pink  ribbon  bows,"  and  she 
laughed  up  at  him  frankly.  "  You  haven't  been  over 
to  sing  lately." 

"  No,"  he  replied,  seemingly  blunt,  because  he  could 
not  say  he  had  been  too  busy. 

"  Why  ?  "  this  innocently  round-eyed. 

Even  bluntness  could  not  save  him  here. 

"Will  you  be  at  home  this  evening?"  he  evaded, 
still  with  restraint. 

"  I'll  have  our  music  selected,"  and,  in  the  very  midst 
of  her  brightness,  she  was  stopped  by  the  sudden  som- 
breness  in  the  rector's  eyes. 

"Eight  o'clock?" 

"  That  will  be  quite  agreeable." 

Simple  little  conversation ;  quite  trivial  indeed,  but 
it  had  been  attended  by  much  shifting  thought.  To 
begin  with,  the  rector  regretted  the  necessity  of  disap 
proving  of  a  young  lady  so  undeniably  attractive.  She 
was  a  pleasure  to  the  eye  and  a  stimulus  to  the  mind, 
and  always  his  first  impulse  when  he  thought  of  her 


MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR    93 

was  one  of  pleasure,  but  in  the  very  moment  of  taking 
her  hand,  he  saw  again  that  picture  of  Gail,  clasped  in 
the  arms  of  the  impulsive  young  man  from  home. 
That  picture  had  made  it  distasteful  for  him  to  call  and 
sing.  He  had  not  been  too  busy!  Another  incident 
flashed  back  to  him.  The  night  of  the  toboggan  party, 
when  she  had  stood  with  her  face  upturned,  and  the 
moonlight  gleaming  on  her  round  white  throat.  He 
had  trembled,  much  to  his  later  sorrow,  as  he  fastened 
the  scarf  about  her  warm  neck.  However,  she  was  the 
visiting  niece  of  one  of  his  vestrymen,  who  lived  next 
door  to  the  rectory.  She  was  particularly  charming  in 
this  outfit  of  brown,  which  enhanced  so  much  her  rich 
tints. 

Gail  jerked  her  pretty  head  impatiently.  If  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  meant  to  be  as  sombre  as  this, 
she'd  rather  he'd  stay  at  home.  He  was  dreadfully 
gloomy  at  times ;  though  she  was  compelled  to  admit 
that  he  was  good-looking,  in  a  manly  sort  of  way,  and 
had  a  glorious  voice  and  a  stimulating  mind.  She  in 
variably  recalled  him  with  pleasure,  but  something  about 
him  aggravated  her  so.  Strange  about  that  quick 
withdrawal  of  his  hand.  It  was  almost  rude.  He  had 
done  the  same  thing  at  the  toboggan  party.  He  had 
fastened  her  scarf,  and  then  he  had  jerked  away  his 
hands  as  if  he  were  annoyed!  However,  he  was  the 
rector,  and  her  Uncle  Jim  was  a  vestryman,  and  they 
lived  right  next  door. 

"  You  just  escaped  a  blowing  up,  Doctor  Boyd," 
observed  "  Daddy  "  Manning,  joining  them,  and  his 
eyes  twinkled  from  one  to  the  other.  "  Our  young 
friend  from  the  west  is  harsh  with  the  venerable  Market 
Square  Church." 

"Again?"  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  gra- 


94  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

cious  enough  to  smile.  "  What  is  the  matter  with  it 
this  time?" 

"  It  is  not  only  commercial,  but  criminal,"  repeated 
Manning,  with  a  sly  smile  at  Gail,  who  now  wore  a  little 
red  spot  in  each  cheek. 

"  In  what  way?"  and  the  rector  turned  to  her  se 
verely. 

"  The  mere  fact  that  your  question  needs  an  answer 
is  sufficient  indication  of  the  callousness  of  every  one 
connected  with  Market  Square  Church,"  she  promptly 
informed  him.  "  That  the  church  should  permit  a  spot 
like  this  to  exist,  when  it  has  the  power  to  obliterate  it, 
is  unbelievable;  but  that  it  should  make  money  from 
the  condition  is  infamous  !  " 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  cold  eyes  turned  green, 
as  he  glared  at  this  daring  young  person.  In  offend 
ing  the  dignity  of  Market  Square  Church  she  offended 
his  own. 

"  What  would  you  have  us  do?  "  he  quietly  asked. 

"  Retire  from  business,"  she  informed  him,  nettled 
by  the  covert  sneer  at  her  youth  and  inexperience. 
She  laid  aside  a  new  perplexity  for  future  solution.  In 
moments  such  as  this  the  rector  was  far  from  ministerial, 
and  he  displayed  a  quickness  to  anger  quite  out  of 
proportion  to  the  apparent  cause.  "  The  whole  trou 
ble  with  Market  Square  Church,  and  of  the  churches 
throughout  the  world,  is  that  they  have  no  God.  The 
Creator  has  been  reduced  to  a  formula." 

Daddy  Manning  saved  the  rector  the  pain  of  any 
answer. 

"  You're  a  religious  anarchist,"  he  charged  Gail. 

Her  face  softened. 

"  By  no  means,"  she  replied.  "  I  am  a  devoted  fol 
lower  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  the  Divine  Will,  the  Divine 


MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR     95 

Law;  but  not  of  the  church;  for  it  has  forgotten  these 
things." 

"  You  don't  know  what  you  are  saying,"  the  rector 
told  her. 

"  That  isn't  all  you  mean,"  she  retorted.  "  What 
you  have  in  mind  is  that,  being  a  woman,  and  young, 
I  should  be  silent.  You  would  not  permit  thought  if 
you  could  avoid  it,  for  when  people  begin  to  think, 
religion  lives  but  the  church  dies;  as  it  is  doing  to- 
day." 

Now  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  could  be  triumphant. 
There  was  a  curl  of  sarcasm  on  his  lips. 

"  Are  you  quite  consistent  ?  "  he  charged.  "  You 
have  just  been  objecting  to  the  prosperity  of  the 
church." 

"  Financially,"  she  admitted ;  "  but  it  is  a  spiritual 
bankrupt.  Your  financial  prosperity  is  a  direct  sign 
of  your  religious  decay.  Your  financial  bankruptcy 
will  come  later,  as  it  has  done  in  France,  as  it  is  doing 
in  Italy,  as  it  will  do  all  over  the  world.  Humanity 
treats  the  church  with  the  generosity  due  a  once  val 
uable  servant  who  has  out-lived  his  usefulness." 

"  My  dear  child,  humanity  can  never  do  without  re 
ligion,"  interposed  Daddy  Manning. 

"  Agreed,"  said  Gail ;  "  but  it  outgrows  them.  It 
outgrew  paganism,  idolatry,  and  a  score  of  minor 
phases  in  between.  Now  it  is  outgrowing  the  religion 
of  creed,  in  its  progress  toward  morality.  What  we 
need  is  a  new  religion." 

"  You  are  blaming  the  church  with  a  fault  which 
lies  in  the  people,"  protested  the  rector,  shocked  and 
disturbed,  and  yet  feeling  it  his  duty  to  set  Gail  right. 
He  was  ashamed  of  himself  for  having  been  severe  with 
her  in  his  mind.  She  was  less  frivolous  than  he  had 


96  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

thought,  and  what  she  needed  was  spiritual  instruction. 
"  The  people  are  luke-warm." 

"  What  else  could  they  be  with  the  watery  spiritual 
gruel  which  the  church  provides  ?  "  retorted  Gail.  "  You 
feed  us  discarded  bugaboos,  outworn  tenets,  meaning 
less  forms  and  ceremonies.  All  the  rest  of  the  world 
progresses,  but  the  church  stands  still.  Once  in  a 
decade  some  sect  patches  its  creed,  and  thinks  it 
has  been  revolutionary,  when  in  fact  it  has  only  caught 
up  with  a  point  which  was  passed  by  humanity  at  large, 
in  its  advancing  intelligence,  fifty  years  before." 

"  I  am  interested  in  knowing  what  your  particular 
new  religion  would  be  like,"  remarked  Daddy  Manning, 
his  twinkling  eyes  resting  affectionately  on  her. 

"  It  would  be  a  return  to  the  simple  faith  in  God," 
Gail  told  him  reverently.  "  It  is  still  in  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  as  it  will  always  be ;  but  they  have  nowhere 
to  gather  together  and  worship." 

Daddy  Manning  laughed  as  he  detected  that  bit  of 
sarcasm. 

"  According  to  that  we  are  wasting  our  new  ca 
thedral." 

"  Absolutely ! "  and  it  struck  the  rector  with  pain 
that  Gail  had  never  looked  more  beautiful  than  now, 
with  her  cheeks  flushed  and  her  brown  eyes  snapping 
with  indignation.  "  Your  cathedral  will  be  a  monu 
ment,  built  out  of  the  profits  wrung  from  squalor,  to 
the  vanity  of  your  congregation.  If  I  were  the  dic 
tator  of  this  wonderful  city  of  achievement,  I  would 
decree  that  cathedral  never  to  be  built,  and  Vedder 
Court  to  be  utterly  destroyed ! " 

"  It  is  perhaps  just  as  well  that  you  are  not  the  dic 
tator  of  the  city."  The  young  Reverend  Smith  Boyd 
gazed  down  at  her  from  his  six  feet  of  serious  purpose, 


MINE  FOR  THE  GOLDEN  ALTAR     97 

with  all  his  previous  disapproval  intensified.  *'  The 
history  of  Market  Square  Church  is  rich  with  instances 
of  its  usefulness  in  both  the  spiritual  and  the  material 
world,  with  evidence  of  its  power  for  good,  with  justifi 
cation  for  its  existence,  with  reason  for  its  acts.  You 
make  the  common  mistake  of  judging  an  entire  body 
from  one  surface  indication.  Do  you  suppose  there 
is  no  sincerity,  no  conscience,  no  consecration  in  Mar 
ket  Square  Church?"  His  deep,  mellow  baritone  vi 
brated  with  the  defence  of  his  purpose  and  that  of  the 
institution  which  he  represented.  "  Why  do  you  sup 
pose  our  vestrymen,  whose  time  is  of  enormous  value, 
find  a  space  amid  their  busy  working  hours  for  the  af 
fairs  of  Market  Square  Church?  Why  do  you  sup 
pose  the  ladies  of  our  guild,  who  have  agreeable  pur 
suits  for  every  hour  of  the  day,  give  their  time  to  com 
mittee  and  charity  work?  "  He  paused  for  a  hesitant 
moment.  "  Why  do  you  suppose  I  am  so  eager  for 
the  building,  on  American  soil,  of  the  most  magnificent 
house  of  worship  in  the  world?  " 

Gail's  pretty  upper  lip  curled. 

"  Personal  ambition ! "  she  snapped,  and,  without 
waiting  to  see  the  pallor  which  struck  his  face  to  stone, 
she  heeled  her  way  out  through  the  mud  to  her  coupe. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    STORM    CENTRE    OF     MAGNETIC    ATTRACTION 

"r>ROTHER    BONES,"     said    Interlocutor    Ted 

-i-l  Teasdale  commandingly,  with  his  knuckles  on 
his  right  knee  and  his  elbow  at  the  proper  angle. 

"  Yes,  sir,  Mr.  Interlocutor,"  replied  Willis  Cun 
ningham,  whose  "  black-face  makeup  "  seemed  marvel 
lously  absurd  in  connection  with  his  brown  Vandyke. 

"  Brother  Bones,  when  does  everybody  love  a  storm?  " 

"  I  don't  know,  Mr.  Interlocutor,"  admitted  Brother 
Bones  Cunningham,  touching  his  kinky  wig  with  the  tip 
of  one  forefinger.  "  When  does  everybody  love  a 
storm  ?  " 

Interlocutor  Ted  Teasdale  roved  his  eye  over  the  as 
semblage,  of  fifty  or  more,  in  his  own  ballroom,  and 
smiled  in  a  superior  fashion.  The  ebony-faced  semi 
circle  of  impromptu  minstrels,  banded  together  that 
morning,  leaned  forward  with  anticipatory  grins. 
They  had  heard  the  joke  in  rehearsal.  It  was  a 
corker! 

"  When  it's  a  Gail,"  he  replied,  whereat  Gail  Sar 
gent,  at  whom  everybody  looked  and  laughed,  flushed 
prettily,  and  the  bones  and  tambos  made  a  flourish,  and 
the  Interlocutor  announced  that  the  Self  Help  Glee 
Club  would  now  sing  that  entrancing  ditty,  entitled 
"  Mary  Had  a  Little  Calf." 

It  was  only  in  the  blossom  of  the  evening  at  Ted 
Teasdale's  country  house,  the  same  being  about  eleven 

98 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  99 

o'clock,  and  the  dance  was  still  to  begin.  Lucile  Teas- 
dale's  vivid  idea  for  making  her  house-party  notable 
was  to  induce  their  guests  to  amuse  themselves;  and 
their  set  had  depended  upon  hired  entertainers  for  so 
long  that  the  idea  had  all  the  charm  of  distinct  novelty. 
There  had  been  an  amazingly  smart  operetta  written 
on  the  spot  by  Willis  Cunningham,  and  with  musical 
settings  by  Arlene  Fosland.  Rippingly  clever  thing! 
"  The  Tea  Room  Suffragettes !  "  Ball  afterwards,  of 
course,  until  four  o'clock  in  the  morning.  To-night 
the  minstrel  show,  and  a  ball ;  to-morrow  night  tableaux 
vivant,  and  a  ball ;  fancy  dress  this  time,  and  all  cos 
tumes  to  be  devised  from  the  materials  at  hand  by  the 
wearer's  own  ingenuity.  Fine?  No  end  of  it!  One 
could  always  be  sure  of  having  a  lively  time  around 
Lucile  and  Ted  Teasdale  and  Arly  Fosland.  Gerald 
Fosland  was  at  this  party.  Fine  chap,  Gerald,  and 
beautifully  decent  in  his  attentions  to  Arly.  Pity  they 
were  so  rotten  bored  with  each  other;  but  there  you 
were !  Each  should  have  married  a  blonde. 

Gail  Sargent  fairly  scintillated  with  enjoyment.  She 
had  never  attended  so  brilliant  a  house-party.  Her 
own  set  back  home  had  a  lot  of  fun,  but  this  was  in 
some  way  different.  The  people  were  no  more  clever, 
but  there  were  more  clever  people  among  them ;  that 
was  it.  There  had  been  a  wider  range  from  which  to 
pick,  which  was  why,  in  New  York,  there  were  so  many 
circles,  and  circles  within  circles. 

Gail  was  sparkling  all  the  time.  There  was  a  con 
stant  flash  of  wit,  not  of  a  very  high  order,  to  be  sure, 
nor  exceptionally  brilliant,  which  latter  was  its  chief 
charm.  Some  wit  has  to  be  taken  so  very  seriously. 
There  were  dashes  into  the  brisk,  exhilarating  winter 
air,  there  were  lazy  breakfasts,  where  three  or  four  of 


ioo  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  girls  grouped  in  one  room,  there  was  endless  gaiety 
and  laughter,  and,  above  all,  oceans  and  oceans  of  flir 
tation.  The  men  whom  Lucile  and  Arly  had  collected 
were  an  especial  joy.  They  had  all  the  accomplished 
outward  symbols  of  fervour  without  any  of  its  oppres 
sive  insistence.  Gail,  as  an  agreeable  duty  to  her  new 
found  self,  experimented  with  several  of  them,  and  found 
them  most  amusing  and  pleasant,  but  nothing  more  dis 
turbing. 

Dick  Rodley  was  the  most  persistent,  and,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  he  was  so  flawlessly  handsome  as  to  excite 
ridicule,  Gail  found  herself,  by  and  by,  defending  him 
against  her  own  iconoclastic  sense  of  humour.  He 
reached  her  after  the  minstrel  show,  while  Houston  Van 
Ploon  and  Willis  Cunningham  were  still  struggling  pro 
fanely  with  their  burnt  cork,  and  he  stole  her  from  un 
der  the  very  eyes  of  Jack  Lariby,  while  that  smitten 
youth  was  exchanging  wit,  at  a  tremendous  loss,  with 
caustic  Arly  Fosland. 

"  Have  you  seen  the  new  century  plant  in  the  con 
servatory  ?  "  Dick  asked,  beaming  down  at  her,  his  black 
eyes  glowing  like  coals. 

Gail's  eyelids  flashed  down  for  an  instant,  and  the 
corners  of  her  lips  twitched.  Young  Lariby  had  only 
been  with  her  five  minutes,  but  she  had  felt  herself  age 
ing  in  that  time. 

"  I  love  them,"  she  avowed,  and  glancing  backward 
just  once,  she  tiptoed  hastily  away  with  the  delighted 
Dick.  That  young  man  had  looked  deep  into  the  eyes 
of  many  women,  and  at  last  he  was  weary  of  being 
adored.  He  led  Gail  straight  to  the  sequestered  corner 
behind  the  date  palms,  but  it  was  occupied  by  Bobby 
Chalmers  and  Flo  Reynolds.  He  strolled  with  Gail  to 
the  seat  behind  the  rose  screen,  but  it  was  fully  engaged, 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  101 

and  he  led  the  way  out  toward  the  geranium  alcove. 

"  I've  missed  you  so  this  evening,"  he  earnestly  con 
fided  to  her.  "  I  was  two  hours  in  the  minstrel  show. 
It  was  forever,  Gail !  "  and  he  bent  his  glowing  eyes 
upon  her.  That  was  it!  His  wonderful  eyes!  They 
were  magnetic,  compelling,  and  one  would  be  dull  who 
could  not  find  a  response  to  the  thrill  of  them. 

"Where  is  the  century  plant?"  He  was  a  tremen 
dously  pleasant  fellow.  When  she  walked  through  a 
crowded  room  with  Dick,  she  knew,  from  the  looks  of 
admiration,  just  what  people  were  saying;  that  they 
were  an  extraordinarily  handsome  couple. 

"  There  is  no  century  plant,"  he  shamelessly  con 
fessed. 

"  I  knew  it,"  and  she  laughed. 

"  I  don't  mind  admitting  that  it  was  a  point-blank 
lie,"  he  cheerfully  told  her.  "  I  wanted  to  get  you  out 
here  alone,  all  to  myself,"  and  his  voice  went  down  two 
tones.  He  did  do  it  so  prettily ! 

"  I've  counted  seven  couples,"  she  gaily  responded. 

He  tightened  his  arm  where  her  hand  lay  in  it,  and 
she  left  it  there. 

"  You've  clinched  Lucile's  reputation,"  he  stated. 
"  She  always  has  been  famous  for  picking  good  ones ; 
but  she  saved  you  for  the  climax." 

"  My  happy,  happy  childhood  days,"  laughed  Gail. 
"  The  boys  used  to  talk  that  way  on  the  way  home  from 
school." 

"  I  don't  doubt  it,"  and  Dick  smiled  appreciatively. 
"  The  dullest  sort  of  a  boy  would  find  himself  saying 
nice  things  to  you ;  but  I  shall  stop  it." 

"  Oh,  please  don't !  "  begged  Gail.  "  You  are  so  de 
lightful  at  it." 

He  pounced  on  a   corner  half  hidden  by   a  tub   of 


102  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ferns.  There  was  no  bench  there,  but  it  was  at  least 
semi-isolated,  and  he  leaned  gracefully  against  the 
window-ledge,  looking  down  at  her  earnestly  as  she 
stood,  slenderly  outlined  against  the  green  of  the  ferns, 
in  her  gown  of  delicate  blue  sparkling  with  opalescent 
flakes. 

"  That's  just  the  trouble,"  he  complained.  "  I  don't 
wish  you  to  be  aware  that  I  am  saying  what  you  call 
pretty  things.  I  wish,  instead,  to  be  effective,"  and 
there  was  a  roughness  in  his  voice  which  had  come  for 
the  first  time.  She  was  a  trifle  startled  by  it,  and  she 
lowered  her  eyes  before  the  steady  gaze  which  he  poured 
down  on  her.  Why,  he  was  in  earnest ! 

"  Then  take  me  to  Lucile,"  she  smiled  up  at  him,  and 
strolled  in  toward  the  ballroom. 

Willis  Cunningham  met  them  at  the  door. 

"  You  promised  me  the  first  dance,"  he  breathlessly 
informed  Gail.  He  had  been  walking  rapidly. 

"  Are  they  ready  ?  "  she  inquired,  stepping  a  pace 
away  from  Dick. 

"  Well,  the  musicians  are  coming  in,"  evaded  Cun 
ningham,  tucking  her  hand  in  his  arm. 

"  I've  the  second  one,  remember,  Grail,"  Dick  re 
minded  her,  as  he  glanced  around  the  ballroom  for  his 
own  partner,  but  Gail  distinctly  felt  his  eyes  following 
her  as  she  walked  away  with  Cunningham. 

"  I  know  now  of  what  your  profile  reminds  me," 
Cunningham  told  her ;  "  the  Charmeaux  '  Praying 
Nymph.'  It  is  the  most  spiritually  beautiful  of  all  the 
pictures  in  the  Louvre." 

"  I  wonder  which  is  the  stronger  emotion  in  me  just 
now,"  she  returned ;  "  gratified  vanity  or  curiosity." 

"  I   hope  it's   the  latter,"  smiled   Cunningham.     "  I 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  103 

recall  now  a  gallery  in  which  there  is  a  very  good  copy 
of  the  Charmeaux  canvas,  and  I'd  be  delighted  to  take 
you.'* 

"  I'll  go  with  pleasure,"  promised  Gail,  and  Cun 
ningham  turned  to  her  with  a  grateful  smile. 

"  I  would  prefer  to  show  you  the  original,"  he  ven 
tured. 

"  Oh,  look  at  them  tuning  their  drums,"  cried  Gail, 
and  he  thought  that  she  had  entirely  missed  his  hint, 
that  the  keenest  delight  in  his  life  would  be  to  lead  her 
through  the  Louvre,  and  from  thence  to  a  perspective 
of  picture  galleries,  dazzling  with  all  the  hues  of  the 
spectrum,  and  as  long  as  life! 

He  had  other  things  which  he  wanted  to  say,  but  he 
calculatingly  reserved  them  for  the  day  of  the  picture 
viewing,  when  he  would  have  her  exclusive  attention ; 
so,  through  the  dance,  he  talked  of  trifles  faf  from  his 
heart.  He  was  a  nice  chap,  too. 

Dick  Rodley  was  on  hand  with  the  last  stroke  of  the 
music,  to  claim  her  for  his  dance.  By  one  of  those 
waves  of  unspoken  agreement,  Gail  was  being  "  rushed." 
It  was  her  night,  and  she  enjoyed  it  to  the  full.  Per 
haps  the  new  awakening  in  Gail,  the  crystallisation  of 
which  she  had  been  forced  to  become  conscious,  had 
something  to  do  with  this.  Her  cheeks,  while  no  more 
beautiful  in  their  delicacy  of  colouring,  had  a  certain 
quality  of  translucence,  which  gave  her  the  indefinable 
effect  of  glowing  from  within ;  her  eyes,  while  no 
brighter,  had  changed  the  manner  of  their  brightness. 
They  had  lost  something  of  their  sparkle,  which  had 
been  replaced  by  a  peculiarly  enticing  half-veiled  scin 
tillation,  much  as  if  they  were  smouldering,  only  to  cast 
off  streams  of  brilliant  sparks  at  the  slightest  disturb- 


104  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ance ;  while  all  about  her  was  the  vague  intangible  aura 
of  magnetic  attraction  which  seemed  to  flutter  and  to 
soothe  and  to  call,  all  in  one. 

Dick  Rodley  was  the  first  to  know  this  vague  change 
in  her ;  perhaps  because  Dick,  with  all  his  experience  in 
the  social  diversion  of  love-making,  was,  after  all,  more 
spiritual  in  his  physical  perceptions.  At  any  rate  he 
hovered  near  her  at  every  opportunity  throughout  the 
evening,  and  his  own  eyes,  which  had  the  natural  trick 
of  glowing,  now  almost  blazed  when  they  met  those  of 
Gail.  She  liked  him,  and  she  did  not.  She  was  thrown 
into  a  flutter  of  pleasure  when  he  came  near  her,  she 
enjoyed  a  clash  of  wit,  and  of  will,  and  of  snappy 
mutual  attraction ;  then  suddenly  she  wanted  him  away 
from  her,  only  to  welcome  him  eagerly  when  he  came 
back. 

Van  Ploon  danced  with  her,  danced  conscientiously, 
keeping  perfect  time  to  the  music,  avoiding,  with  prac 
tised  adroitness,  every  possible  pocketing,  or  even  hem 
contacts  with  surrounding  couples,  and  acquitting  him 
self  of  lightly  turned  observations  at  the  expiration  of 
about  every  seventy  seconds.  He  was  aware  that  Gail 
was  exceptionally  pretty  to-night,  but,  if  he  stopped  to 
analyse  it  at  all,  he  probably  ascribed  it  to  her  delicate 
blue  dancing  frock  with  its  opalescent  flakes,  or  her 
coiffure,  or  something  of  the  sort.  He  quite  approved 
of  her;  extraordinarily  so.  He  had  never  met  a  girl 
who  approached  so  near  the  thousand  per  cent,  grade 
of  perfection  by  all  the  blue  ribbon  points. 

It  was  while  she  was  enjoying  her  second  restful 
dance  with  Van  Ploon  that  Gail,  swinging  with  him  near 
the  south  windows,  heard  the  honk  of  an  auto  horn,  and 
a  repetition  close  after,  and,  by  the  acceleration  of 
tone,  she  discerned  that  the  machine  was  coming  up  the 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  105 

drive  at  break-neck  speed.  Moreover,  her  delicately 
attuned  musical  ear  recognised  something  familiar  in 
the  sound  of  the  horn ;  perhaps  tone,  perhaps  duration, 
perhaps  inflection,  more  likely  a  combination  of  all 
three.  Consequently,  she  was  not  at  all  surprised 
when,  near  the  conclusion  of  the  dance,  she  saw  Allison 
standing  in  the  doorway  of  the  ballroom,  with  his  hands 
in  his  pockets,  watching  her  with  a  smile.  Her  eyes 
lighted  with  pleasure,  and  she  nodded  gaily  to  him  over 
Van  Ploon's  tall  shoulder.  When  the  dance  stopped 
she  was  on  the  far  side  of  the  room,  and  was  instantly 
the  centre  of  a  buzzing  little  knot  of  dancers,  from  out 
of  which  carefree  laughter  radiated  like  visible  flashes 
of  musical  sound.  She  emerged  from  the  group  with 
the  arms  of  two  bright-eyed  girls  around  her  waist,  and 
met  Allison  sturdily  breasting  the  currents  which  had 
set  towards  the  conservatory,  the  drawing  rooms,  or  the 
buffet. 

"  Nobody  has  saved  me  a  dance,"  he  complained. 

"  Nobody  expected  you  until  to-morrow,"  Gail  smil 
ingly  returned,  introducing  him  to  the  girls.  "  I'll  beg 
you  one  of  my  dances  from  Ted  or  somebody." 

She  was  so  obviously  slated  to  entertain  Allison  dur 
ing  this  little  intermission,  that  Van  Ploon,  following 
the  trio  in  duty  bound,  took  one  of  the  girls  and  went 
away,  and  her  partner  led  the  other  one  to  the  music 
room. 

"  I'll  have  Lucile  piece  you  out  a  card,"  offered  Gail, 
as  they  strolled  naturally  across  to  the  little  glass  en 
closed  balcony.  "  I  don't  think  I  can  secure  you  one 
of  Arly's  dances.  She's  scandalously  popular  to 
night." 

"  One  will  be  enough  for  me,  unless  you  can  steal  me 
some  more  of  your  own,"  he  told  her,  glancing  down  at 


io6  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

her,  from  coiffure  to  blue  pointed  slippers,  with  calm 
appreciation.  "  You  are  looking  great  to-night,"  and 
his  gaze  came  back  to  rest  in  her  glowing  eyes.  Her 
fresh  colour  had  been  heightened  by  the  excitement  of 
the  evening,  but  now  an  added  flush  swept  lightly  over 
her  cheeks,  and  passed. 

"  I'll  see  what  I  can  do,"  she  speculated,  looking  at 
her  dance  card.  "  The  next  three  are  with  total 
strangers,  and  of  course  I  can't  touch  those,"  she 
laughed.  "  The  fourth  one  is  with  Willis  Cunning 
ham,  and  after  that  is  a  brief  wilderness  again.  I  think 
one  is  all  you  get." 

"  I'm  lucky  even  to  have  that,"  declared  Allison  in 
content.  "  The  fourth  dance  down.  That  will  just 
give  me  time  to  punish  the  buffet.  I'm  hungry  as  a 
bear.  I  started  out  here  without  my  dinner." 

They  stood  at  the  balcony  windows  looking  out  into 
the  wintry  night.  There  was  not  much  to  see,  not  even 
the  lacing  of  the  bare  trees  against  the  clouded  sky. 
The  snow  had  gone,  and  where  the  light  from  the  win 
dows  cut  squarely  on  the  ground  were  bare  walks,  and 
cold  marble,  and  dead  lawn ;  all  else  was  blackness  ;  but  it 
was  a  sufficient  landscape  for  people  so  intensely  con 
centrated  upon  themselves. 

Her  next  partner  came  in  search  of  her  presently,  and 
the  music  struck  up,  and  Allison,  nodding  to  his  many 
acquaintances  jovially,  for  he  was  in  excellent  humour 
in  these  days  of  building,  and  planning,  and  clearing 
ground  for  an  entirely  new  superstructure  of  life,  cir 
cled  around  to  the  dining  room,  where  he  performed 
savage  feats  at  the  buffet.  Soon  he  was  out  again, 
standing  quietly  at  the  edge  of  things,  and  watching 
Gail  with  keen  pleasure,  both  when  she  danced  and 
when,  in  the  intermissions,  the  gallants  of  the  party 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  107 

gravitated  to  her  like  needles  to  a  magnet.  Her  pop 
ularity  pleased  him,  and  flattered  him.  Suddenly  he 
caught  sight  of  Bldridge  Babbitt,  a  middle-aged  man 
who  was  watching  a  young  woman  with  the  same  pleas 
ure  Allison  was  experiencing  in  the  contemplation  of 
Gail. 

"  Just  the  man  I  wanted  to  see,"  announced  Allison, 
making  his  way  to  Babbitt.  "  I  have  a  new  freightage 
proposition  for  the  National  Dairy  Products  Consoli 
dation." 

Babbitt  brightened  visibly.  He  had  been  missing 
something  keenly  these  past  two  days,  and  now  all  at 
once  he  realised  what  it  was ;  business. 

"  I  can't  see  any  possible  new  angle,"  returned  Bab 
bitt  cautiously,  and  with  a  backward  glance  at  the 
dashing  young  Mrs.  Babbitt.  He  headed  instinctively 
for  the  library. 

Laughingly  Gail  finished  her  third  dance  down.  She 
had  enjoyed  several  sparkling  encounters  in  passing 
with  Dick  Rodley,  and  she  was  buoyantly  exhilarated  as 
she  started  to  stroll  from  the  floor  with  her  partner. 
She  had  wanted  to  find  cherub-cheeked  Marion  Kenneth, 
and  together  they  walked  through  the  conservatory,  and 
the  dining  room,  and  the  deserted  billiard  room,  with 
its  bright  light  on  the  green  cloth  and  all  the  rest  of 
the  room  in  dimness.  There  was  a  narrow  space  at 
one  point  between  the  chairs  and  the  table,  and  it  un 
expectedly  wedged  them  into  close  contact.  With  a 
sharp  intake  of  his  breath,  the  fellow,  a  ruddy-faced, 
thick-necked,  full-lipped  young  man  who  had  followed 
her  with  his  eyes  all  evening,  suddenly  turned,  and 
caught  her  in  his  embrace,  and,  holding  back  her  head  in 
the  hollow  of  his  arm,  kissed  her ;  a  new  kiss  to  her,  and 
horrible ! 


io8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Suddenly  he  released  her,  and  stepped  back  abruptly, 
filled  with  remorse. 

"  Forgive  me,  Miss  Sargent,"  he  begged. 

Gail  nodded  her  numb  acceptance  of  the  apology, 
and  turning,  hurried  out  of  the  side  door  to  the  veranda. 
Her  knees  were  trembling,  but  the  fresh,  cold  air 
steadied  her,  and  she  walked  the  full  length  of  the  wide 
porch,  trying  instinctively  to  forget  the  sickening  hu 
miliation.  As  she  came  to  the  corner  of  the  house,  the 
sharp  winter  wind  tore  at  her,  smote  her  throat,  clutched 
at  her  bare  shoulders,  and  stopped  her  with  a  sharp 
physical  command.  She  drew  her  gauzy  little  dancing 
scarf  around  her,  and  held  it  tightly  knotted  at  her 
throat,  and  edged  closer  to  the  house.  She  was  near 
a  window,  and,  advancing  a  step,  she  looked  in.  It  was 
the  library,  and  Allison  sat  there,  so  clean  and  whole 
some  looking,  with  his  pink  shaven  face  and  his  white 
evening  waistcoat,  and  his  dark  hair  beginning  to 
sprinkle  with  grey  at  the  temples.  He  was  so  sturdy 
and  so  strong  and  so  dependable  looking,  as  he  sat 
earnestly  talking  with  Babbitt.  Allison  said  something, 
and  they  both  smiled ;  then  Babbitt  said  something  and 
they  both  threw  back  their  heads  and  laughed,  while 
Allison,  with  one  hand  in  his  pocket,  waved  his  other 
hand  over  a  memorandum  pad  which  lay  between  them. 
Gail  hurried  to  the  front  door  and  rang  the  bell. 

"  Hello,  Gail,"  greeted  the  cheery  voice  of  Allison, 
as  she  came  in.  "  My  dance  next,  isn't  it?  " 

His  voice  was  so  good,  so  comforting,  so  reassuring. 

"  I  think  so,"  she  replied,  standing  hesitantly  in  the 
doorway,  and  thankful  that  the  lights  were  canopied  in 
this  room. 

Allison  drew  the  memorandum  pad  toward  him,  and 
rose. 


She  was  glad  to  be  alone,  to  rescue  herself  from  the  whirl  of  anger  and 
indignation  and  humiliation  which  had  swept  around  her 


THE  STORM  CENTRE  109 

"  By  the  way,  there's  one  thing  I  forgot  to  tell  you, 
Babbitt,  and  it's  rather  important."  He  hesitated  and 
glanced  toward  the  door.  "  You'll  excuse  me  just  half 
a  minute,  won't  you,  Gail?  " 

She  had  noticed  that  assumption  of  intimate  under 
standing  in  him  before,  and  she  had  secretly  admired  it. 
Now  it  was  a  comfort  and  a  joy. 

"  Surely,"  she  granted,  and  passed  on  in  to  the  li 
brary  alcove,  a  sheltered  nook  where  she  was  glad  to  be 
alone,  to  rescue  herself  from  the  whirl  of  anger,  and 
indignation,  and  humiliation  —  above  all,  humiliation ! 
—  which  had  swept  around  her.  What  had  she  done 
to  bring  this  despicable  experience  upon  herself? 
What  evil  thing  had  there  been  in  her  to  summons  forth 
this  ugly  spectre?  She  had  groped  almost  deliberately 
for  that  other  polarity  which  should  complete  her,  but 
this  painful  moment  was  not  one  of  the  things  for  which 
she  had  sought.  She  could  not  know,  but  she  had  passed 
one  of  the  inevitable  milestones.  The  very  crystallisa 
tion  which  had  brightened  and  whetted  her  to  a  keen 
zest  in  her  natural  destiny,  had  attracted  this  fellow, 
inevitably.  Her  face  was  hot  and  cold  by  turns,  and 
she  was  almost  on  the  point  of  crying,  in  spite  of  her 
constantly  reiterated  self-admonishment  that  she  must 
control  herself  here,  when  Allison  came  to  the  door  of 
the  alcove. 

"  All  right,  Gail,"  he  said  laconically. 

She  felt  suddenly  weary,  but  she  rose  and  joined  him. 
When  she  slipped  her  hand  in  his  arm,  strong,  and 
warm,  and  pulsing,  she  was  aware  of  a  thrill  from  it, 
but  the  thrill  was  just  restfulness. 

"  You  look  a  little  tired,"  judged  the  practical  Alli 
son,  as  they  strolled,  side  by  side,  into  the  hall,  and  he 
patted  the  slender  hand  which  lay  on  his  arm. 


no  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Not  very,"  she  lightly  replied,  and  unconsciously 
she  snuggled  her  hand  more  comfortably  into  its  rest 
ing  place.  A  little  sigh  escaped  her  lips,  deep-drawn 
and  fluttering.  It  was  a  sigh  of  content. 


CHAPTER  XI 

"  GENTLEMEN,    THERE    IS    YOUR    EMPIRE  !  "     . 

THE  seven  quiet  gentlemen  who  sat  with  Allison  at 
his  library  table,  followed  the  concluding  flourish 
of  his  hand  toward  the  map  on  the  wall,  and  either 
nodded  or  blinked  appreciatively.  The  red  line  on  his 
map  was  complete  now,  a  broad,  straight  line  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  and  to  it  were  added,  on  either 
side,  irregular,  angling  red  lines  like  the  legs  of  a  centi 
pede,  the  feeders  of  the  various  systems  which  were 
under  control  of  the  new  Atlantic-Pacific  Railroad. 

"  That's  a  brilliant  piece  of  engineering,  Allison." 
observed  huge  Richard  Haverman,  by  way  of  pleasant 
comment,  and  he  glanced  admiringly  at  Allison  after 
his  eye  had  roved  around  the  little  company  of  notables. 
The  feat  of  bringing  these  seven  men  together  at  a 
specific  hour,  was  greater  than  having  consolidated  the 
brilliant  new  Atlantic-Pacific  Railroad. 

"  Let's  get  to  the  details,"  barked  a  voice  with  the 
volume  of  a  St.  Bernard.  It  came  from  Arthur  Gran- 
din,  the  head  of  the  Union  Fuel  Company,  which  con 
trolled  all  the  wood  and  coal  in  the  United  States,  and 
all  the  oil  in  the  world.  His  bald  spot  came  exactly 
on  a  level  with  the  back  of  his  chair,  and  he  wore  a 
fierce  moustache. 

"  I'm  putting  in  the  Atlantic-Pacific  as  my  share  of 
the  pool,  gentlemen,"  explained  Allison.  "  My  project, 

in 


112  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

as  I  have  told  you,  is  to  make  this  the  main  trunk,  the 
vertebras  as  it  were,  of  the  International  Transporta 
tion  Company.  I  have  consolidated  with  the  A. -P.  the 
Municipal  Transportation  Company,  and  I  have  put 
my  entire  fortune  in  it,  to  lay  it  on  the  table  absolutely 
unencumbered." 

He  threw  down  the  Atlantic-Pacific  Railroad  and  the 
Municipal  Transportation  Company  in  the  form  of  a 
one  sheet  typewritten  paper. 

"  We'd  better  appoint  some  one  to  look  after  the 
legal  end  of  things,"  suggested  the  towering  Haverman, 
whose  careless,  lounging  attitude  contrasted  oddly  with 
his  dignified  long  beard. 

"  I'll  take  care  of  it,"  said  W.  T.  Chisholm,  of  the 
Majestic  Trust  Company,  and  drawing  the  statement 
in  front  of  him,  he  set  a  paperweight  on  it. 

"  The  first  step  is  not  one  of  incorporation,"  went 
on  Allison.  "  Before  that  is  done  there  must  be  but 
one  railroad  system  in  the  United  States." 

Smooth-shaven  old  Joseph  G.  Clark  nodded  his  head. 
There  was  but  one  cereal  company  in  the  United  States, 
and  the  Standard,  in  the  beginning,  had  been  the  small 
est.  Two  of  the  heads  of  rival  concerns  were  now  in 
Clark's  employ,  one  was  a  pauper,  and  three  were  dead. 
He  disliked  the  pauper. 

Robert  E.  Taylor,  of  the  American  Textiles  Com 
pany,  a  man  who  had  quite  disproved  the  theory  that 
constructive  business  genius  was  confined  to  the  North, 
smoothed  his  grey  moustache  reflectively,  with  the  tip 
of  his  middle  finger,  all  the  way  out  to  its  long  point. 

"  I  can  see  where  you  will  tear  up  the  east  and  west 
traffic  situation  to  a  considerable  extent,"  he  thought 
fully  commented ;  "  but  without  the  important  north 
and  south  main  trunks  you  can  not  make  a  tight  web." 


"THERE  IS  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       113 

Allison  went  over  to  his  wall  map,  with  a  step  in 
which  there  was  the  spring  of  a  boy.  A.  L.  Vance,  of 
the  United  States  Supplies  Company,  which  controlled 
beef,  sugar,  and  practically  all  other  food  products, 
except  those  mighty  necessities  under  the  sways  of  the 
Standard  Cereal  Company  and  Eldridge  Babbitt's  Na 
tional  Dairy  Products  Consolidation,  studied  the  buoy 
ant  Allison  with  a  puzzled  expression.  He  had  seen 
Allison  grow  to  care-burdened  manhood,  and  suddenly 
Ed  seemed  twenty  years  younger.  Only  Eldridge  Bab 
bitt  knew  the  secret  of  this  miraculous  rejuvenescence. 
Babbitt  had  married  late  in  life ;  a  beautiful  young 
woman ! 

"  The  key  to  the  north  and  south  situation  is  here," 
said  Allison,  and  he  drew  a  firm,  swift,  green  line  down 
across  the  United  States,  branching  at  each  end. 
"  George  Dalrymple  will  be  here  in  half  an  hour,  and 
by  that  time  I  trust  we  may  come  to  some  agreement." 

"  It  depends  on  what  you  want,"  boomed  Arthur 
Grandin,  who,  sitting  beside  the  immense  Haverman, 
looked  as  if  that  giant  had  shrunk  him  by  his  mere 
proximity. 

"  Freight,  to  begin  with,"  stated  Allison,  resuming 
his  place  at  the  head  of  the  table,  but  not  his  seat. 
"  You  gentlemen  represent  the  largest  freightage  in 
terests  in  the  United  States.  You  all  know  your 
relative  products,  and  yet,  in  order  to  grasp  this  sit 
uation  completely,  I  wish  to  enumerate  them.  Bab 
bitt's  National  Dairy  Products  Consolidation  can 
swing  the  shipment  of  every  ounce  of  butter,  cream, 
cheese,  eggs  and  poultry  handled  in  this  coun 
try  ;  Clark's  Standard  Cereal  Company,  wheat,  corn, 
oats,  rice,  barley,  malt,  flour,  every  ounce  of  bread- 
stuffs  or  cereal  goods,  grown  on  American  soil;  Haver- 


114  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

man,  the  Amalgamated  Metals  Constructive  Company, 
every  pound  of  iron,  lead,  and  copper,  and  every  ton 
of  ore,  from  the  moment  it  leaves  the  ground  until  it 
appears  as  an  iron  web  in  a  city  sky  or  spans  a 
river;  Grandin,  the  Union  Fuel  Company,  coal  and 
wood,  from  Alaska  to  Pennsylvania,  with  oil  and  all  its 
enormous  by-products ;  Taylor,  the  American  Textiles 
Company,  wool,  cotton,  flax,  the  raw  and  finished  ma 
terial  of  every  thread  of  clothing  we  wear,  or  any  other 
textile  fabric  we  use  except  silk;  Vance,  the  United 
States  Supplies  Company,  meat,  sugar,  fruit,  the  main 
blood  and  sinew  builders  of  the  country.  Gentlemen, 
give  me  the  freightage  controlled  by  your  six  com 
panies,  and  I'll  toss  the  rest  of  the  country's  freightage 
to  a  beggar." 

"  You  forgot  Chisholm,"  Babbitt  reminded  him,  and 
Banker  Chisholm's  white  mutton-chops  turned  pink 
from  the  appreciation  which  glowed  in  his  ruddy-veined 
face. 

"  Allison  was  quite  right,"  returned  big  Haverman 
with  a  dry  smile.  "  The  freightage  income  on  money 
is  an  item  scarcely  worth  considering." 

"  Give  the  Atlantic-Pacific  this  freight,  and,  inside 
of  two  years,  the  entire  business  of  the  United  States, 
with  all  its  ramifications,  will  be  merged  in  one  manage 
ment,  and  that  management  ours.  We  shall  not  need 
to  absorb,  nor  purchase,  a  single  railroad  until  it  is 
bankrupt." 

"  Sensible  idea,  Allison,"  approved  Clark,  of  the 
Standard  Cereal  Company.  "  It's  a  logical  proposi 
tion  which  I  had  in  mind  years  ago." 

"  Allison's  stroke  of  genius,  it  seems  to  me,  consists 
in  getting  us  together,"  smiled  big  Haverman,  hanging 
his  arm  over  the  back  of  his  chair. 


"THERE  IS  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       115 

Banker  Chisholm  leaned  forward  on  the  table,  and 
stroked  his  round  chin  reflectively.  "  There  would  be 
some  disorganisation,  and  perhaps  financial  disorder, 
in  the  first  two  years,"  he  considered ;  "  but  the  rail 
roads  are  already  harassed  too  much  by  the  govern 
ment  to  thrive  under  competition,  and,  in  the  end,  I  be 
lieve  this  proposed  centralisation  would  be  the  best 
thing  for  the  interests  of  the  country  " ;  wherein  Chis 
holm  displayed  that  he  was  a  vestryman  of  Market 
Square  Church  wherever  he  went. 

"What  is  your  proposition?"  asked  Grandin,  who, 
because  of  the  self-assertion  necessitated  by  his  diminu 
tive  size,  seemed  pompous,  but  was  not.  No  pompous 
man  could  have  merged  the  wood,  coal,  and  oil  inter 
ests,  and,  having  merged  them,  swung  them  over  his 
own  shoulder. 

Allison's  answer  consisted  of  one  word. 

"  Consolidation,"  he  said. 

There  was  a  moment  of  silence,  while  these  men  ab 
sorbed  that  simple  idea,  and  glanced  speculatively,  not 
at  Allison,  but  at  each  other.  They  were  kings,  these 
heads  of  mighty  corporations,  whose  emissaries  carried 
their  sovereignties  into  the  furthest  corners  of  the  earth. 
Like  friendly  kings,  they  had  helped  each  other  in  the 
protection  of  their  several  domains ;  but  this  was  an 
other  matter. 

"  That's  a  large  proposition,  Ed,"  stated  Vance, 
very  thoughtfully.  All  sense  of  levity  had  gone  from 
this  meeting.  They  had  come,  as  they  thought,  to  pro 
mote  a  large  mutual  interest,  but  not  to  weld  a  Frank 
enstein.  "  I  did  not  understand  your  project  to  be  so 
comprehensive.  I  fancied  your  idea  to  be  that  the 
various  companies  represented  here,  with  Chisholm  as 
financial  controller,  should  take  a  mutual  interest  in 


ii6  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  support  of  the  Atlantic-Pacific  Railroad,  for  the 
purpose  of  consolidating  the  railroad  interests  of  the 
country  under  one  management,  thereby  serving  our 
own  transportation  needs." 

"  Very  well  put,  Vance,"  approved  Taylor,  smooth 
ing  his  pointed  moustache. 

"  That  is  a  mere  logical  development  of  the  railroad 
situation,"  returned  Allison.  "  If  I  had  not  cemented 
this  direct  route,  some  one  would  have  made  the  con 
solidation  you  mention  within  ten  years,  for  the  entire 
railroad  situation  has  been  disorganised  since  the  death 
of  three  big  men  in  that  field ;  and  the  scattered  holdings 
would  be,  and  are,  an  easy  prey  for  any  one  vitally 
interested  enough  to  invade  the  industry.  I  have  no 
such  minor  proposition  in  mind.  I  propose,  with  the 
Atlantic-Pacific  as  a  nucleus,  to,  first,  as  I  have  said, 
bring  the  financial  terminals  of  every  mile  of  railroad 
in  the  United  States  into  one  central  office.  With  this 
I  then  propose  to  combine  the  National  Dairy  Products 
Consolidation,  the  Standard  Cereal  Company,  the 
Amalgamated  Metals  Constructive  Company,  the 
Union  Fuel,  American  Textiles,  the  United  States  Sup 
plies,  and  the  stupendous  financial  interests  swayed  by 
the  banks  tributary  to  the  Majestic  Trust  Company. 
I  propose  to  weld  these  gigantic  concerns  into  one  cor 
poration,  which  shall  be  the  mightiest  organisation  the 
world  has  ever  known.  Beginning  with  the  control  of 
transportation,  it  will  control  all  food,  all  apparel,  all 
construction  materials,  all  fuel.  From  the  shoes  on 
his  feet  to  the  roof  over  his  head,  every  man  in  the 
United  States  of  America,  from  labourer  to  president, 
shall  pay  tribute  to  the  International  Transportation 
Company.  Gentlemen,  if  I  have  dreamed  big,  it  is  be- 


"THERE  IS  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       117 

cause  I  have  dealt  with  men  who  deal  only  in  large 
dreams.  What  I  propose  is  an  empire  greater  than 
that  ever  swayed  by  any  monarch  in  history.  We 
eight  men,  who  are  here  in  this  room,  can  build  that 
empire  with  a  scratch  of  a  pen,  and  can  hold  it  against 
the  assaults  of  the  world !  " 

His  voice  rang  as  he  finished,  and  Babbitt  looked  at 
him  in  wonder.  Allison  had  always*  been  a  strong 
man,  but  now,  in  this  second  youth,  he  was  an  Anteus 
springing  fresh  from  the  earth.  There  was  a  moment's 
lull,  and  then  a  nasal  voice  drawled  into  the  silence. 

"  Allison ;  "  it  was  the  voice  of  old  Joseph  G.  Clark, 
who  had  built  the  Standard  Cereal  Company  out  of  one 
wheat  elevator ;  "  who  is  to  be  the  monarch  of  your 
new  empire  ?  " 

For  just  a  moment  Allison  looked  about  him.  Vastly 
different  as  these  men  were,  from  the  full-bearded  Hav- 
erman  to  the  smooth-shaven  old  Joseph  G.  Clark,  there 
was  some  one  expression  which  was  the  same  in  every 
man,  and  that  expression  was  mastery.  These  men,  by 
the  sheer  force  of  their  personality,  by  the  sheer  domi 
nance  of  their  wills,  by  the  sheer  virility  of  their  pur 
poses,  by  the  sheer  dogged  persistence  which  balks  at 
no  obstacle  and  hesitates  at  no  foe,  had  fought  and 
strangled  and  throttled  their  way  to  the  top,  until  they 
stood  head  and  shoulders  above  all  the  strong  men  of 
their  respective  domains,  safe  from  protest  or  dispute 
of  sovereignty,  because  none  had  risen  strong  enough 
to  do  them  battle.  They  were  the  undefeated  cham 
pions  of  their  classes,  and  the  life  of  every  man  in  that 
group  was  an  epic !  Who  was  to  be  monarch  of  the 
new  empire?  Allison  answered  that  question  as  simply 
as  he  had  the  others. 


ii8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  The  best  man,"  he  said. 

There  had  been  seven  big  men  in  America.  Now 
there  were  eight.  They  all  recognised  that. 

"  Of  course,"  went  on  Allison,  "  my  proposition  does 
not  assume  that  any  man  here  will  begin  by  relinquish 
ing  control  of  his  own  particular  branch  of  the  Inter 
national  Transportation  Company ;  sugar,  beef,  iron, 
steel,  oil,  and  the  other  commodities  will  all  be  under 
their  present  handling ;  but  each  branch  will  so  support 
and  benefit  the  other  that  the  position  of  the  consolida 
tion  itself  will  be  impregnable  against  competition  or 
the  assaults  of  government.  The  advantages  of  con 
trol,  collection,  and  distribution,  are  so  vast  that  they 
far  outweigh  any  possible  question  of  personal  aggran 
disement." 

"  Don't  hedge,  Allison,"  barked  Arthur  Grandin. 
"  You  expressed  it  right  in  the  first  place.  You're  put 
ting  it  up  to  us  to  step  out  of  the  local  championship 
class,  and  contend  for  the  big  belt." 

"  The  prize  isn't  big  enough,"  pronounced  W.  T. 
Chisholm,  as  if  he  had  decided  for  them  all.  As  be 
fitted  his  calling,  he  was  slower  minded  than  the  rest. 
There  are  few  quick  turns  in  banking. 

"Not  big  enough?"  repeated  Allison.  "Not  big 
enough,  when  the  Union  Fuel  Company  already  sup 
plies  every  candle  which  goes  into  the  Soudan,  runs  the 
pumps  on  the  Nile  and  the  motor  boats  on  the  Yang- 
Tse-Kyang,  supplies  the  oil  for  the  lubrication  of  the 
car  of  Juggernaut,  and  works  the  propeller  of  every 
aeroplane?  Not  big  enough,  when  already  the  organ 
isations  represented  here  have  driven  their  industries 
into  every  quarter  of  the  earth?  What  shall  you  say 
when  we  join  to  our  nucleus  the  great  steamship  lines 
and  the  foreign  railroads?  Not  big  enough?  Gen- 


"THERE  IS  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       119 

tlemen,  look  here !  "  He  strode  over  to  the  big  globe. 
From  New  York  to  San  Francisco  a  red  line  had  already 
been  traced.  Now  he  took  a  pencil  in  his  hand,  and 
placing  the  point  at  New  York,  gave  the  globe  a  whirl, 
girding  it  completely.  "  Gentlemen,  there  is  your  em 
pire!" 

Again  the  nasal  voice  of  old  Joseph  G.  Clark  drawled 
into  the  silence. 

"  I  suggest  that  we  discuss  in  detail  the  conditions 
of  the  consolidation,"  he  remarked. 

The  bell  of  Allison's  house  phone  rang. 

"  Mr.  Dalrymple,  sir,"  said  the  voice  of  Ephraim. 

"  Very  well,"  replied  Allison.  "  Show  him  into  the 
study.  Babbitt,  will  you  read  to  the  gentlemen  this 
skeleton  plan  of  organisation  ?  If  you'll  excuse  me, 
I'll  be  back  in  five  minutes." 

"Dalrymple?"  inquired  Taylor. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Allison  abstractedly,  and  went  into 
the  study. 

He  and  Dalrymple  looked  at  each  other  silently  for 
a  moment,  with  the  old  enmity  shining  between  them. 
Dalrymple,  a  man  five  years  Allison's  senior,  a  brisk 
speaking  man  with  a  protruding  jaw  and  deep-set  grey 
eyes,  had  done  more  than  any  other  one  human  being 
to  develop  the  transportation  systems  of  New  York,  but 
his  gift  had  been  in  construction,  in  creation,  whereas 
Allison's  had  been  in  combination;  and  Dalrymple  had 
gone  into  the  railroad  business. 

"  Dalrymple,  I'm  going  to  give  you  a  chance,"  said 
Allison  briskly.  "  I  want  the  Gulf  and  Great  Lakes 
Railroad  system." 

Dalrymple  had  produced  a  cigar  while  he  waited  for 
Allison,  and  now  he  lit  it.  He  sat  on  the  corner  of  the 
study  table  and  surveyed  Allison  critically. 


120  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  I  don't  doubt  it,"  he  replied.  "  The  system  is  al 
most  completed." 

"  I'll  accept  a  fair  offer  for  your  controlling  inter 
est,"  went  on  Allison. 

"And  if  I  won't  sell?" 

"  Then  I'll  jump  on  you  to-morrow  in  the  stock  ex 
change,  and  take  it  away  from  you." 

Dalrymple  smiled. 

"  You  can't  do  it.  I  own  my  controlling  interest 
outright,  and  no  stock  gamblings  on  the  board  of  trade 
can  affect  either  a  share  of  my  stock  or  the  earning 
capacity  of  my  railroad.  When  you  drove  me  out  of 
the  traction  field,  I  took  advantage  of  my  experience 
and  entrenched  myself.  Go  on  and  gamble." 

"  I  wish  you  wouldn't  take  that  attitude,"  returned 
Allison,  troubled.  "  It  looks  to  you  as  if  I  were  pur 
suing  you  because  of  that  old  quarrel ;  but  I  want  you 
to  know  that  I'm  not  vindictive." 

"  I  don't  think  you  are,"  replied  Dalrymple,  with 
infinite  contempt.  "  You're  just  a  damned  hog." 

A  hot  flush  swept  over  Allison's  face,  but  it  was  gone 
in  an  instant. 

"  It  happens  that  I  need  the  new  Gulf  and  Great 
Lakes  system,"  he  went  on,  in  a  perfectly  level  voice; 
"  and  I  prefer  to  buy  it  from  you  at  a  fair  price." 

Dalrymple  put  on  his  hat. 

"  It  isn't  for  sale,"  he  stated. 

"  Just  a  minute,  Dalrymple,"  interposed  Allison. 
"  I  want  to  show  you  something.  Look  in  here,"  and 
he  opened  the  library  door. 

Dalrymple  stepped  to  the  opening  and  saw,  not 
merely  seven  men,  middle-aged  and  past,  sitting  around 
a  library  table,  but  practically  all  the  freightable  neces- 


"THERE  IS  YOUR  EMPIRE!"       121 

sities  of  the  United  States  and  practically  all  its  money, 
a  power  against  which  his  many  million  dollar  rail 
road  system  was  of  no  more  opposition  than  a  toy  train. 

" —  the  transportation  department  to  be  governed  by 
a  council  composed  of  the  representatives  of  the  vari 
ous  other  departments  herein  mentioned,"  droned  on 
the  voice  of  Babbitt. 

The  representatives  of  the  various  other  departments 
therein  mentioned  were  bent  in  concentrated  attention 
on  every  sentence,  and  phrase,  and  word,  and  syllable 
of  that  important  document,  not  omitting  to  pay  im 
portant  attention  to  the  pauses  which  answered  for 
commas ;  and  none  looked  up.  Dalrymple  closed  the 
door  gently. 

"  Now  will  you  sell?  "  inquired  Allison. 

For  a  moment  the  two  men  looked  into  each  other's 
eyes,  while  the  old  enmity,  begun  while  they  were  still 
in  the  womb  of  time,  lay  chill  between  them.  At  one 
instant,  Dalrymple,  whose  jaw  muscles  were  working 
convulsively,  half  raised  his  hands,  as  if  he  were  minded 
to  fall  on  Allison  and  strangle  him ;  and  it  was  not  the 
fact  that  Allison  was  probably  the  stronger  man  which 
restrained  him,  but  a  bigger  pride. 

"  No,"  he  said,  again  with  that  infinite  contempt  in 
his  tone.  "  Break  me." 

"  All  right,"  accepted  Allison  cheerfully,  and  even 
with  relief;  for  his  way  was  now  free  to  pursue  its  nor 
mal  course.  He  crossed  to  the  door  which  opened  into 
the  hall,  and  politely  bowed  Dalrymple  into  the  guid 
ance  of  old  Ephraim. 

"  Dalrymple  won't  sell,"  he  reported,  when  he  re 
joined  his  fellow  members  of  the  International  Trans 
portation  Company. 


122  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Joseph  G.  Clark  looked  up  from  a  set  of  jotted  mem 
oranda  which  he  had  been  nonchalantly  setting  down 
during  the  reading. 

"  We'll  pick  it  up  in  the  stock  market,"  he  care 
lessly  suggested. 

"  Can't,"  replied  Allison,  with  equal  carelessness. 
"  He's  entrenched  with  solid  control,  and  I  imagine  he 
doesn't  owe  a  dollar." 

Chisholm,  with  his  fingers  in  his  white  mutton  chops, 
was  studying  clean-shaven  old  Clark's  memoranda. 

"  A  panic  will  be  necessary,  anyhow,"  he  observed. 
"  We'll  acquire  the  road  then." 


CHAPTER  XII 

GAIL    SOLVES    THE    PROBLEM    OF    VEDDEE    COUBT 

THE  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  rector  of  the  richest 
church  in  the  world,  dropped  his  last  collar  but 
ton  on  the  floor,  and  looked  distinctly  annoyed.  The 
collar  button  rolled  under  his  mahogany  highboy,  and 
concealed  itself  carefully  behind  one  of  the  legs.  The 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  there  being  none  to  see,  laid  aside 
his  high  dignity,  and  got  down  on  his  knees,  though 
not  for  any  clerical  purpose.  With  his  suspenders 
hanging  down  his  back,  he  sprawled  his  long  arms  un 
der  the  highboy  in  all  directions,  while  his  face  grew 
red ;  and  the  little  collar  button,  snuggled  carefully  out 
of  sight  behind  the  furthest  leg,  just  shone  and  shone. 
The  rector,  the  ticking  of  whose  dressing-room  clock 
admonished  him  that  the  precious  moments  were  pass 
ing  never  to  return  again,  twisted  his  neck,  and  bent 
his  head  sidewise,  and  inserted  it  under  the  highboy, 
one  ear  scraping  the  rug  and  the  other  the  bottom  of 
the  lowest  drawer.  No  collar  button.  He  withdrew 
his  neck,  and  twisted  his  head  in  the  opposite  direction, 
and  inserted  his  head  again  under  the  highboy,  so  that 
the  ear  which  had  scraped  the  carpet  now  scraped  the 
bottom  of  the  drawer,  whereat  the  little  collar  button 
shone  so  brightly  that  the  rector's  bulging  eye  caught 
the  glint  of  it.  His  hand  swung  round,  at  the  end  of 
a  long  arm,  and  captured  it  before  it  could  hide  any 
further,  then  the  young  rector  withdrew  his  throbbing 

123 


124  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

head  and  started  to  raise  up,  and  bumped  the  back  of 
his  head  with  a  crack  on  the  bottom  of  an  open 
drawer,  near  enough  to  the  top  to  give  him  a  good  long 
sweep  for  momentum.  This  mishap  being  just  one  de 
gree  beyond  the  point  to  which  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd  had  been  consecrated,  he  ejaculated  as  follows:  — 

No,  it  is  not  respectful,  nor  proper,  nor  charitable, 
to  set  down  what  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  in  that 
stress,  ejaculated;  but  a  beautiful,  grey-haired  lady, 
beautiful  with  the  sweetness  of  content  and  the  happi 
ness  of  gratified  pride  and  the  kindliness  of  humour, 
who  had  paused  at  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  open 
door  to  inquire  how  soon  he  would  be  down  to  dinner, 
hastily  covered  her  mouth  with  her  hand,  and  moved 
away  from  the  door,  with  moist  blue  eyes,  around  which 
twinkled  a  dozen  tiny  wrinkles  born  of  much  smiling. 

When  the  dignified  young  rector  came  down  to  din 
ner,  fully  clothed  and  apparently  in  his  right  mind,  his 
mother,  who  was  the  beautiful  grey-haired  lady  with 
the  twinkling  blue  eyes,  looked  across  the  table  and 
smiled  indulgently  at  his  disguise;  for  he  was  not  a 
grown-up,  tall,  broad-shouldered  man  of  thirty-two  at 
all.  In  reality  he  was  a  shock-headed,  slightly  freck 
led  urchin  of  nine  or  ten,  by  the  name  of  "  Smitty  "  on 
the  town  commons,  and  "  Tod  "  at  home. 

"  Aren't  you  becoming  a  trifle  irritable  of  late, 
Tod?  "  she  inquired  with  solicitude,  wilefully  suppress 
ing  a  smile  which  flashed  up  in  her  as  she  rejnembered 
that  ejaculation.  It  was  shocking  in  a  minister,  of 
course,  but  she  had  ever  contended  that  ministers  were, 
and  should  be,  made  of  clay ;  and  clay  is  friable. 

"  Yes,  mother,  I  believe  I  am,"  confessed  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  considering  the  matter  with  serious 
impartiality. 


GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM       125 

"  You  are  not  ill  in  any  way?  " 

"  Not  at  all,"  he  hastily  assured  her. 

"  Your  cold  is  all  gone  ?  " 

"  Entirely.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  mother,"  and  he 
smiled,  "  I  don't  think  I  had  one." 

"  If  you  hadn't  drank  that  tea,  and  taken  the  mus 
tard  foot  bath,  and  wrapped  the  flannel  around  your 
throat,  it  might  have  been  a  severe  one,"  his  mother 
complacently  replied.  "  You  haven't  been  studying  too 
much?" 

"  No,"  and  the  slightest  flicker  of  impatience  twitched 
his  brows. 

"  You've  no  headache  ?  "  and  the  tone  was  as  level 
as  if  she  had  not  seen  that  flicker. 

"  No,  mother." 

"Do  you  sleep  well?  " 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  took  a  drink  of  water. 
His  hand  trembled  slightly. 

"  Excellently." 

Mrs.  Boyd  surveyed  her  son  with  a  practised  eye. 

"  I  think  your  appetite's  dropping  off  a  little,"  she 
commented,  and  then  she  was  shrewdly  silent,  though 
the  twinkles  of  humour  came  back  to  her  eyes  by  and 
by.  "  I  don't  think  you  take  enough  social  diver 
sion,"  she  finally  advised  him.  "  You  should  go  out 
more.  You  should  ride,  walk,  but  always  in  the  com 
pany  of  young  and  agreeable  people.  Because  you  are 
a  rector  is  no  reason  for  you  to  spend  your  spare  time 
in  gloomy  solitude,  as  you  have  been  doing  for  the  past 
week." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  would  have  liked  to  state 
that  he  had  been  very  busy,  but  he  had  a  conscience, 
which  was  a  nuisance  to  him.  He  had  spent  most  of 
his  spare  time  up  in  his  study,  with  his  chin  in  his  hand. 


126  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  You  are  quite  right,  mother,"  he  sombrely  con 
fessed,  and  swallowed  two  spoonfuls  of  his  soup.  It 
was  excellent  soup,  but,  after  taking  a  bite  of  a  wafer, 
he  laid  his  spoon  on  the  edge  of  the  plate. 

"  I  think  I'll  drive  you  out  of  the  house,  Tod,"  Mrs. 
Boyd  decided,  in  the  same  tones  she  had  used  to  em 
ploy  when  she  had  sent  him  to  bed.  "  I  think  I'll  send 
you  over  to  Sargent's  to-night,  to  sing  with  Gail." 

The  rector  of  the  richest  church  in  the  world  flushed 
a  trifle,  and  looked  at  the  barley  in  the  bottom  of  his 
soup.  His  mother  regarded  him  quietly,  and  the  twin 
kles  went  out  of  her  eyes.  She  had  been  bound  to  get 
at  the  bottom  of  his  irritability,  and  now  she  had  ar 
rived  at  it. 

"  I  would  prefer  not  to  go,"  he  told  her  stiffly,  and 
the  eyes  which  he  lifted  to  her  were  coldly  green. 

"Why?" 

Again  that  slight  twitch  of  impatience  in  his  brows, 
then  he  suppressed  a  sigh.  The  catechism  was  on  the 
way,  and  he  might  just  as  well  answer  up  promptly. 

"  I  do  not  approve  of  Miss  Sargent." 

For  just  one  second  the  rector's  mother  felt  an  im 
pulse  to  shake  Tod  Boyd.  Gail  Sargent  was  a  young 
lady  of  whom  any  young  man  might  approve  —  and 
what  was  the  matter  with  Tod?  She  was  beginning 
to  be  humiliated  by  the  fact  that,  at  thirty-two,  he  had 
not  lost  his  head  and  made  a  fool  of  himself,  to  the 
point  of  tight  shoes  and  poetry,  over  a  girl. 

"Why?"  and  the  voice  of  Mrs.  Boyd  was  not  cold 
as  she  had  meant  it  to  be.  She  had  suddenly  felt  some 
tug  of  sympathy  for  Tod. 

"  Well,  for  one  thing,  she  has  a  most  disagreeable 
lack  of  reverence,"  he  stated. 

"Reverence?"   and  Mrs.   Boyd  knitted  her  brows. 


GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM      127 

"  I  don't  believe  you  quite  understand  her.  She  has  the 
most  beautifully  simple  religious  faith  that  I  have  ever 
seen,  Tod." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  watched  his  soup  disap 
pearing,  as  if  it  were  some  curious  moving  object  to 
which  his  attention  had  just  been  called. 

"  Miss  Sargent  claims  to  have  a  new  religion,"  he 
observed.  "  She  has  said  most  unkind  things  about  the 
Church  as  an  institution,  and  about  Market  Square 
Church  in  particular.  She  says  that  it  is  a  strictly 
commercial  institution,  and  that  its  motive  in  desiring 
to  build  the  new  cathedral  is  vanity." 

He  omitted  to  mention  Gail's  further  charge  that  his 
own  motive  in  desiring  the  new  cathedral  was  personal 
ambition.  Candour  did  not  compel  that  admission.  It 
did  not  become  him  to  act  from  piqued  personal 
pride. 

Mrs.  Boyd  studied  him  as  he  gazed  sombrely  at  his 
fish,  and  the  twinkles  once  more  returned  to  her  eyes, 
as  she  made  up  her  mind  to  cure  Tod's  irritability. 

"  I  am  ashamed  of  you,"  she  told  her  son.  "  This 
girl  is  scarcely  twenty.  If  I  remember  rightly,  and 
I'm  sure  that  I  do,  you  came  to  me,  at  about  twenty, 
and  confessed  to  a  logical  disbelief  in  the  theory  of  cre 
ation,  which  included,  of  course,  a  disbelief  in  the  Crea 
tor.  You  were  an  infidel,  an  atheist.  You  were  going 
to  relinquish  your  studies,  and  give  up  all  thought  of 
the  Church." 

The  deep  red  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  face 
testified  to  the  truth  of  this  cruel  charge,  and  he  pushed 
back  his  fish  permanently. 

"  I  most  humbly  confess,"  he  stated,  and  indeed  he 
had  writhed  in  spirit  many  times  over  that  remembrance. 
"  However,  mother,  I  have  since  discovered  that  to  be 


128  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

a  transitional  stage  through  which  every  theological 
student  passes." 

"  Yet  you  won't  allow  it  to  a  girl,"  charged  Mrs. 
Boyd,  with  the  severity  which  she  could  much  better 
have  expressed  with  a  laugh.  "  When  you  discover 
that  this  young  lady,  who  seems  to  be  in  every  way  de 
lightful,  is  so  misled  as  to  criticise  the  motives  of  Mar 
ket  Square  Church,  you  withdraw  into  your  dignity, 
with  the  privilege  of  a  layman,  and  announce  that  '  you 
do  not  approve  of  her.'  What  she  needs,  Tod,  is  re 
ligious  instruction." 

She  had  carefully  ironed  out  the  tiny  little  wrinkles 
around  her  blue  eyes  by  the  time  her  son  looked  up 
from  the  profound  cogitation  into  which  this  reproof 
had  thrown  him. 

"  Mother,  I  have  been  wrong,"  he  admitted,  and  he 
seemed  ever  so  much  brighter  for  the  confession.  He 
drew  his  fish  towards  him  and  ate  it. 

Later  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  presented  himself  at 
James  Sargent's  house,  with  a  new  light  shining  in  his 
breast ;  and  he  had  blue  eyes.  He  had  come  to  show 
Gail  the  way  and  the  light.  If  she  had  doubts,  and 
lack  of  faith,  and  flippant  irreverence,  it  was  his  duty 
to  be  patient  with  her,  for  this  was  the  fault  of  youth. 
He  had  been  youthful  himself. 

Gail's  eyelids  dropped  and  the  corners  of  her  lips 
twitched  when  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  name  was 
brought  up  to  her,  but  she  did  her  hair  in  another  way, 
high  on  her  head  instead  of  low  on  her  neck,  and  then 
she  went  down,  bewildering  in  her  simple  little  dark  blue 
velvet  cut  round  at  the  neck. 

"  I  am  so  glad  your  cold  is  better,"  she  greeted  him, 
smiling  as  pleasantly  as  if  their  last  meeting  had  been 
a  most  joyous  occasion. 


GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM       129 

"  I  don't  think  I  had  a  cold,"  laughed  the  young 
rector,  also  as  happily  mannered  as  if  their  last  meet 
ing  had  been  a  cheerful  one.  "  I  sneezed  twice,  I  be 
lieve,  and  mother  immediately  gave  me  a  course  of  doc 
toring  which  no  cold  could  resist." 

"  I  was  afraid  that  your  voice  was  out,"  remarked 
Gail,  in  a  tone  suggestive  of  the  fact  that  that  would 
be  a  tragedy  indeed ;  and  she  began  hauling  forth  music. 
"  You  haven't  been  over  for  so  long." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  coloured.  At  times  the 
way  of  spiritual  instruction  was  quite  difficult.  Never 
theless,  he  had  a  duty  to  perform.  Mechanically  he 
had  taken  his  place  at  the  piano,  standing  straight  and 
tall,  and  his  blue  eyes  softened  as  they  automatically 
fell  on  the  piece  of  music  she  had  opened.  Of  course 
it  was  their  favourite,  the  one  in  which  their  voices  had 
soared  in  the  most  perfect  unison.  Gail  glanced  up  at 
him  as  she  brushed  a  purely  imaginary  fleck  of  dust 
from  the  keys.  For  an  instant  the  brown  eyes  and  the 
blue  ones  met.  He  was  a  tremendously  nice  fellow, 
after  all.  But  what  was  worrying  him? 

"  Before  we  sing  I  should  like  to  take  up  graver  mat 
ters,"  he  began,  feeling  at  a  tremendous  disadvantage 
in  the  presence  of  the  music.  To  obviate  this,  he  drew 
up  a  chair,  and  sat  facing  her.  "  I  have  called  this 
evening  in  the  capacity  of  your  temporary  rector." 

Gail's  eyelids  had  a  tendency  to  flicker  down,  but 
she  restrained  them.  She  was  adorable  when  she  looked 
prim  that  way.  Her  lips  were  like  a  rosebud.  The 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  himself  thought  of  the  simile, 
and  cast  it  behind  him. 

"  You  are  most  kind,"  she  told  him,  suppressing  the 
imps  and  demons  which  struggled  to  pop  into  her  eyes. 

"  I  have  been   greatly   disturbed  by   the   length  to 


130  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

which  your  unbelief  has  apparently  gone,"  the  ydung 
rector  went  on,  and  having  plunged  into  this  opening 
he  began  to  breathe  more  freely.  This  was  familiar 
ground.  "  I  am  willing  to  admit,  to  one  of  your  in 
telligence,  that  there  are  certain  articles  of  the  creed, 
and  certain  tenets  of  the  Church,  which  humanity  has 
outgrown,  as  a  child  outgrows  its  fear  of  the  dark." 

Gail  rested  a  palm  on  the  edge  of  the  bench  behind 
her,  and  leaned  back  facing  him,  supported  on  one 
beautifully  modelled  arm.  Her  face  had  set  seriously 
now. 

"  However,"  went  on  the  rector,  "  it  is  the  habit  and 
the  privilege  of  youth  to  run  to  extremes.  Sweeping 
doubt  takes  the  place  of  reasonable  criticism,  and  the 
much  which  is  good  is  condemned  alike  with  the  little 
which  has  grown  useless." 

He  paused  to  give  Gail  a  chance  for  reply,  but  that 
straight-eyed  young  lady  had  nothing  to  say,  at  this 
juncture. 

"  I  do  not  expect  to  be  able  to  remove  the  spiritual 
errors,  which  I  am  compelled  to  judge  that  you  have 
accumulated,  by  any  other  means  than  patient  logic," 
he  resumed.  "  May  I  discuss  these  matters  with  you?  " 
His  voice  was  grave  and  serious,  and  full  of  earnest 
sincerity,  and  the  musical  quality  alone  of  it  made  pa 
tient  logical  discussion  seem  attractive. 

"  If  you  like,"  she  assented,  smiling  at  him  with  wile- 
ful  and  wilful  deception.  The  wicked  thought  had  oc 
curred  to  her  that  it  might  be  her  own  duty  to  broaden 
his  spiritual  understanding. 

"  Thank  you,"  he  accepted  gravely.  "  If  you  will 
give  me  an  hour  or  so  each  week,  I  shall  be  very  happy." 

"  I  am  nearly  always  at  home  on  Tuesday  and  Fri 
day  evenings,"  suggested  Gail,  "  Scarcely  any  one 


GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM       131 

calls  before  eight  thirty,  and  we  have  dinner  quite  earljr 
on  those  evenings."  She  began  to  be  sincerely  inter 
ested  in  the  project.  She  had  never  given  herself  time 
to  quite  exactly  define  her  own  attitude  towards  theol 
ogy  as  distinct  from  religion,  and  she  felt  that  she 
should  do  it,  if  for  no  other  reason  than  to  avoid  mak 
ing  impulsive  over-statements.  The  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd  would  help  her  to  look  squarely  into  her  own 
mind  and  her  own  soul,  for  he  had  a  very  active  intelli 
gence,  and  was,  moreover,  the  most  humanly  forceful 
cleric  she  had  ever  met.  Besides,  they  could  always 
finish  by  singing. 

"  I  shall  make  arrangements  to  be  over  as  early  as 
you  will  permit,"  declared  the  rector,  warmly  aglow 
with  the  idea.  "  We  shall  begin  with  the  very  begin 
nings  of  things,  and,  step  by  step,  develop,  I  hope,  a 
logical  justification  of  the  vast  spiritual  revolution  which 
has  conquered  the  world." 

"  I  should  like  nothing  better,"  mused  Gail,  and 
since  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  rose,  and  stood  behind 
her  and  filled  his  lungs,  she  turned  to  the  piano  and 
struck  a  preliminary  chord,  which  she  trailed  off  into 
a  tinkling  little  run,  by  way  of  friendly  greeting  to 
the  piano. 

"  We  shall  begin  with  the  creation,"  pursued  the  rec 
tor,  dwelling,  with  pleasure,  on  the  idea  of  a  thorough 
progress  through  the  mazes  of  religious  growth.  There 
were  certain  vague  points  which  he  wanted  to  clear  up 
for  himself. 

"  And  wind  up  with  Vedder  Court."  She  had  not 
meant  to  say  that.  It > just  popped  into  her  mind,  and 
popped  off  the  end  of  her  tongue. 

"  Even  that  will  be  taken  up  in  its  due  logical  se 
quence,"  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  prided  himself 


132  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

on  having  already  displayed  the  patience  which  he  had 
come  expressly  to  exercise. 

Gail  was  immediately  aware  that  he  was  exercising 
patience.  He  had  reproved  her,  nevertheless,  and 
quite  coldly,  for  having  violated  the  tacit  agreement  to 
take  up  the  different  phases  of  their  weighty  topic  only 
"  in  their  due  logic  sequence."  The  rector,  in  this 
emergency,  would  have  found  no  answer  which  would 
stand  the  test,  but  Gail  had  the  immense  advantage  of 
femininity. 

"  It  altogether  depends  at  which  end  we  start  our 
sequence,"  she  sweetly  reminded  him.  "  My  own  im 
pression  is  that  we  should  begin  at  Vedder  Court  and 
work  back  to  the  creation.  Vedder  Court  needs  im 
mediate  attention." 

That  was  quite  sufficient.  When  Allison  called, 
twenty  minutes  later,  they  were  at  it  hammer  and  tongs. 
There  was  a  bright  red  spot  in  each  of  Gail's  cheeks, 
and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  cold  eyes  were  distinctly 
green !  Allison  had  been  duly  announced,  but  the  com 
batants  merely  glanced  at  him,  and  finished  the  few  re 
marks  upon  which  they  were,  at  the  moment,  engaged. 
He  had  been  studying  the  tableau  with  the  interest  of 
a  connoisseur,  and  he  had  devoted  his  more  earnest  at 
tention  to  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

"  So  glad  to  see  you,"  said  Gail  conventionally,  ris 
ing  and  offering  him  her  hand.  If  there  was  that 
strange  thrill  in  his  clasp,  she  Avas  not  aware  of  it. 

"  I  only  ran  in  to  see  if  you'd  like  to  take  a  private 
car  trip  in  the  new  subway  before  it  is  opened,"  offered 
Allison,  turning  to  shake  hands  with  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd.  "  Will  you  join  us,  Doctor?  " 

For  some  reason  a  new  sort  of  jangle  had  come  into 
the  room,  and  it  affected  the  three  of  them.  Allison 


GAIL  SOLVES  THE  PROBLEM       133 

was  the  only  one  who  did  not  notice  that  he  had  taken 
Gail's  acceptance  for  granted. 

"  You  might  tell  us  when,"  she  observed,  transfer 
ring  the  flame  of  her  eyes  from  the  rector  to  Allison. 
"  I  may  have  conflicting  engagements." 

"  No,  you  won't,"  Allison  cheerfully  informed  her ; 
"  because  it  will  be  at  any  hour  you  set." 

"  Oh,"  was  the  weak  response,  and,  recognising  that 
she  was  fairly  beaten,  her  white  teeth  flashed  at  him  in 
a  smile  of  humour.  "  Suppose  we  say  ten  o'clock  to 
morrow  morning." 

"  I  am  free  at  that  hour,"  stated  Doctor  Boyd,  in 
answer  to  a  glance  of  inquiry  from  Allison.  He  felt 
it  his  duty  to  keep  in  touch  with  public  improvements. 
Also,  beneath  his  duty  lay  a  keen  pleasure  in  the  task. 

"  You'll  be  very  much  interested,  I  think,"  and  Al 
lison  glowed  with  the  ever-present  pride  of  achievement, 
then  he  suddenly  grinned.  "  The  new  subway  stops  at 
the  edge  of  Vedder  Court,  waiting." 

There  was  another  little  pause  of  embarrassment,  in 
which  Gail  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  were  very 
careful  not  to  glance  at  each  other.  Unfortunately, 
however,  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  luckless  enough 
to  automatically,  and  without  conscious  mental  process, 
fold  the  sheet  of  music  which  had  long  since  been 
placed  on  the  piano. 

"  Why  stop  at  the  edge  of  Vedder  Court  ?  "  inquired 
Gail,  with  a  nervous  little  jerk,  much  as  if  the  words 
had  been  jolted  out  of  her  by  the  awkward  slam  of  the 
music  rack,  which  had  succeeded  the  removal  of  the  song. 
"  Why  not  go  straight  on  through,  and  demolish  Ved 
der  Court?  It  is  a  scandal  and  a  disgrace  to  civilisa 
tion,  and  to  the  city,  as  well  as  to  its  present  proprie 
tors !  Vedder  Court  should  be  annihilated,  torn  down, 


134  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

burned  up,  swept  from  the  face  of  the  earth!  The 
board  of  health  should  condemn  it  as  unsanitary,  the 
building  commission  should  condemn  it  as  unsafe,  the 
department  of  public  morals  should  condemn  it  as  un 
wholesome  ! " 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  had  been  engaged  in  a 
strong  wrestle  within  himself,  but  the  spirit  finally  con 
quered  the  flesh,  and  he  held  his  tongue.  He  remem 
bered  that  Gail  was  young,  and  youth  was  prone  to  ex 
travagant  impulse.  His  spirit  of  forbearance  came  so 
strongly  to  his  aid  that  he  was  even  able  to  acknowl 
edge  how  beautiful  she  was  when  she  was  stiffened. 

Allison  had  been  viewing  her  with  mingled  admira 
tion  and  respect. 

"  By  George,  that's  a  great  idea,"  he  thoughtfully 
commented.  "  Gail,  I  think  I'll  tear  down  Vedder  Court 
for  you ! " 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE    SURVIVAL    OF    THE    FITTEST 

A  SHORT,  thick  old  man,  grey-bearded  and  puff- 
eyed  and  loaded  with  enormous  jewels,  met  Gail, 
Lucile  and  Arly,  Ted  Teasdale  and  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  at  the  foot  of  the  subway  stairs,  and  introduced 
himself  with  smiling  ease  as  Tim  Gorman,  beaming  with 
much  pride  in  his  wide-spread  fame. 

"  Mr.  Allison  sent  me  to  meet  you,"  he  stated,  with 
a  bow  on  which  he  justly  prided  himself.  "  Allison 
played  a  low  trick  on  me,  ladies,"  and  he  gazed  on  them 
in  turns  with  a  jovial  familiarity,  which,  in  another, 
they  might  have  resented.  "  From  the  description  he 
gave  me,  I  was  looking  for  the  most  beautiful  young 
lady  in  the  world,  and  here  there's  three  of  you."  His 
eyes  swelled  completely  shut  when  he  laughed.  "  So 
you'll  have  to  help  me  out.  Which  one  of  you  is  Miss 
Sargent?  " 

"  The  young  lady  who  answers  the  description," 
smiled  Arly,  delighted  with  Tim  Gorman,  and  she  in 
dicated  Gail. 

"  Mr.  Allison  couldn't  be  here,"  explained  Tim,  lead 
ing  the  way  to  the  brightly  lighted  private  car.  "  We're 
to  pick  him  up  at  Hoadley  Park.  Miss  Sargent,  as 
hostess  of  the  party,  is  to  have  charge  of  everything." 

The  side  doors  slid  open  as  they  approached,  and  they 
entered  the  carpeted  and  draped  car,  furnished  with 
wicker  chairs  and  a  well-stocked  buffet.  In  the  for- 

135 


136  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ward  compartment  were  three  responsible  looking  men 
and  a  motorman,  and  one  of  the  responsibles,  a  fat  gen 
tleman  who  did  not  seem  to  care  how  his  clothes  looked, 
leaned  into  the  parlour. 

"  All  ready  ?  "  he  inquired,  with  an  air  of  concealing 
a  secret  impression  that  women  had  no  business  here. 

Tim  Gorman,  who  had  carefully  seen  to  it  that  he 
had  a  seat  between  Gail  and  Arly,  touched  Gail  on  the 
glove. 

"  Ready,  thank  you,"  she  replied,  glancing  brightly 
at  the  loosely  arrayed  fat  man,  and  she  could  see  that 
immediately  a  portion  of  that  secret  impression  was  re 
moved. 

With  an  easy  glide,  which  increased  with  surprising 
rapidity  into  express  speed,  the  car  slid  into  the  long, 
glistening  tunnel,  still  moist  with  the  odours  of  build 
ing. 

"  This  is  the  most  stunningly  exclusive  thing  in  the 
world !  "  exclaimed  Lucile  Teasdale.  "  A  private  sub 
way  !  " 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  bent  forward.  All  the 
way  down  to  the  subway  entrance  he  had  enjoyed  the 
reversal  to  that  golden  age  where  no  one  says  anything 
and  everybody  laughs  at  it. 

"  To  my  mind  that  is  not  the  greatest  novelty,"  he 
observed.  "  The  most  enjoyable  part  of  the  journey 
so  far  has  been  getting  into  the  subway  without  paying 
a  nickel."  He  glanced  over  at  Gail  as  he  spoke,  but 
only  Arly,  Lucile  and  Ted  laughed.  Tim  Gorman  had 
adroitly  blocked  Gail  into  a  corner,  and  was  holding 
her  attention. 

"  Ed  Allison's  one  of  the  smartest  boys  in  New  York," 
he  enthusiastically  declared.  "  Did  you  ever  see  any 
body  as  busy  as  he  is?  " 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    137 

"  He  seems  to  be  a  very  energetic  man,"  Gail  as 
sented,  with  a  sudden  remembrance  of  how  busy  Alli 
son  had  always  been. 

"  Gets  anything  he  goes  after,"  Tim  informed  her, 
and  screwed  one  of  his  many-puffed  eyes  into  a  wink; 
at  which  significant  action  Gail  looked  out  at  the  motor- 
man.  "  Never  tells  his  plans  to  anybody,  nor  what  he 
wants.  Just  goes  and  gets  it." 

"  That's  a  successful  way,  I  should  judge,"  she  re 
sponded,  now  able  to  see  the  humour  of  Tim  Gor 
man's  volunteer  mission,  but  a  red  spot  beginning  to 
dawn,  nevertheless,  in  either  cheek. 

"  Well,  he's  square,"  asserted  Tim  judicially.  "  Un 
derstand,  he  don't  care  how  he  gets  a  thing  just  so  he 
gets  it,  but  if  he  makes  you  a  promise  he'll  keep  it. 
That's  what  I  call  square." 

Gail  nodded.  She  had  discerned  that  quality  in  Al 
lison. 

"  What  I  like  about  him  is  that  he  always  wins," 
went  on  Tim.  "  Nobody  in  this  town  has  ever  passed 
him  the  prunes.  Do  you  know  what  he  did?  He 
started  with  two  miles  of  rust  and  four  horse  cars,  and 
now  he  owns  the  whole  works." 

Gail  knitted  her  brows.  She  had  heard  something 
of  this  marvellous  tale  before,  and  it  had  interested 
her.  She  had  been  groping  for  an  explanation  of  Al 
lison's  tremendous  force. 

"  That  was  a  wonderful  achievement.  How  did  he 
accomplish  it?  " 

"  Made  'em  get  off  and  walk ! "  boasted  Tim,  with 
vast  pride  in  the  fact.  "  Any  time  Eddie  run  across 
a  man  that  had  a  street  car  line,  he  choked  it  out  of 
him.  He's  a  wizard." 

Tim's  statement  seemed  to  be  somewhat  clouded  in 


138  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

metaphor,  but  Gail  managed  to  gather  that  Allison  had 
possibly  used  first-principle  methods  on  his  royal  path 
way  to  success. 

"  You  mean  that  he  drove  them  out  of  business." 

"  Pushed  'em  off !  "  and  Tim's  voice  was  exultant. 

"  I  don't  think  I  understand  business,"  worried  Gail. 
"  It  seems  so  cruel." 

"  So  is  baseball,  if  you  want  to  figure  that  it's  a 
shame  the  losers  have  to  take  a  licking,"  chuckled  Tim. 
"  Anybody  Allison  likes  is  lucky,"  and  with  the  friendly 
familiarity  of  an  old  man,  Tim  Gorman  patted  Gail 
on  the  glove. 

"  It  occurs  to  me  that  I'm  neglecting  my  opportuni 
ties,"  observed  Gail,  rising.  "  I'm  supposed  to  be  run 
ning  this  car,"  and  going  to  the  glass  door  she  looked 
into  the  motorman's  compartment,  which  was  large,  and 
had  seats  in  it,  and  all  sorts  of  mysterious  tools  and 
appliances  in  the  middle  of  the  floor. 

Tim  Gorman,  as  Allison's  personal  representative, 
was  right  on  the  spot. 

"  Come  on  out,"  he  invited,  and  opened  the  door, 
whereupon  the  three  responsible  looking  men  immedi 
ately  arose. 

Gail  hesitated,  then  smiled.  She  turned  to  look  at 
the  others,  half  wondering  if  she  should  invite  them  to 
come,  and  whether  a  crowd  would  be  welcomed,  but 
the  quartette  were  gathered  on  the  observation  plat 
form,  watching  the  tunnel  swallowing  itself  in  a  far 
away  point. 

"  Mr.  Greggory,  general  manager  of  the  Municipal 
Transportation  Company,  Miss  Sargent,"  introduced 
Tim,  and  the  fat  man  bowed,  with  still  another  por 
tion  of  that  secret  opinion  removed.  "  Mr.  Lincoln, 
general  engineer  of  the  Transportation  Company,  Miss 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    139 

Sargent,"  and  the  thin-faced  man  with  the  high  fore 
head  and  the  little  French  moustache,  bowed,  smiling 
his  decided  approval.  "  Mr.  McCarthy,  general  con 
struction  manager  of  the  Transportation  Company, 
Miss  Sargent,"  and  the  red-faced  man  with  the  big  red 
moustache,  bowed,  grinning.  Tim  Gorman  led  Gail  for 
ward  to  the  motorman,  and  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder. 
"  Show  her  how  it  works,  Tom,"  he  directed. 

So  it  was  that  Edward  E.  Allison,  standing  quite 
alone  on  the  platform  of  the  Hoadley  Park  station,  saw 
the  approaching  trial  trip  car  stop,  and  run  slowly, 
and  run  backwards,  and  dart  forwards,  and  perform 
all  sorts  of  experimental  movements,  before  it  rushed 
down  to  his  platform,  with  a  rosy-cheeked  girl  standing 
at  the  wheel,  her  brown  eyes  sparkling,  her  red  lips 
parted  in  a  smile  of  ecstatic  happiness,  her  hat  off  and 
her  waving  brown  hair  flowing  behind  her  in  the  sweep 
of  the  wind.  To  one  side  stood  a  highly  pleased  motor 
man,  while  a  short,  thick  old  man,  and  a  careless  fat 
man,  and  a  man  with  a  high  forehead  and  one  with  a 
red  moustache,  all  smiling  indulgently,  clogged  the 
space  in  the  rear. 

Allison  boarded  the  car,  and  greeted  his  guests,  and 
came  straight  through  to  the  motorman's  cage,  as  Gail, 
in  response  to  the  clang  of  the  bell,  pulled  the  lever. 
She  was  just  getting  that  easy  starting  glide,  and  she 
was  filled  with  pride  in  the  fact. 

"  You  should  not  stand  bare-headed  in  front  of  that 
window,"  greeted  Allison,  almost  roughly ;  and  he 
closed  it. 

Gail  turned  very  sweetly  to  the  motorman. 

"  Thank  you,"  she  said,  and  gave  him  the  lever,  then 
she  walked  back  into  the  car.  It  had  required  some 
repression  to  avoid  recognising  that  dictatorial  atti- 


140  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tude,  and  Allison  felt  that  she  was  rather  distant,  and 
wondered  what  was  the  matter;  but  he  was  a  practical 
minded  person,  and  he  felt  that  it  would  soon  blow  over. 

"  This  is  the  deepest  line  in  the  city,"  he  informed 
her,  as  she  led  the  way  back  to  the  group  in  the  par 
lour  division.  "  Every  subway  we  build  presents  more 
difficult  problems  of  construction  because  of  the  cross 
ings." 

"  I  should  think  it  would  be  most  difficult,"  she  in 
differently  responded,  and  hurried  back  to  the  girls. 

"  I  feel  horribly  selfish,"  she  confessed,  slipping  her 
arm  around  Lucile  on  one  side  and  Arly  on  the  other; 
and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  strangely  inclined  to 
poetry  these  days,  compared  them  to  the  Three  Graces, 
with  Hope  in  the  centre.  They  were  an  attractive  pic 
ture  for  the  looking  of  any  man ;  the  blonde  Lucile,  the 
brown  Gail,  and  the  black-haired  Arly,  all  fresh- 
cheeked,  slender,  and  sparkling  of  eye. 

"  I'm  glad  your  conscience  smites  you,"  smiled  Arly. 
"Wasn't  it  fun?" 

"  The  most  glorious  in  the  world !  "  and  Gail  glanced 
doubtfully  at  Tim  Gorman,  who  was  right  on  the  spot. 

"  Come  on,  girls,"  heartily  invited  Tim,  who  could 
catch  a  hint  as  fast  as  any  man.  "  I'll  introduce  you 
to  Tom,"  and,  profoundly  happy  in  his  gallantry,  he 
returned  to  the  front  of  the  car  with  a  laughing  blonde 
on  one  arm  and  a  laughing  brunette  on  the  other. 

Allison  turned  confidently  to  chat  with  Gail,  but  that 
young  lady,  smiling  on  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd, 
moved  back  to  the  observation  platform,  and  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd  followed  the  smile  with  alacrity. 

"  I've  been  neglecting  this  view,"  she  observed,  gaz 
ing  out  into  the  rapidly  diminishing  perspective,  then 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    141 

she  glanced  up  sidewise  at  the  tall  young  rector,  whose 
eyes  were  perfectly  blue. 

He  answered  something  or  other,  and  the  conversa 
tion  was  so  obviously  a  tete-a-tete  that  Allison  re 
mained  behind.  Ted  Teasdale  had  long  since  found, 
in  the  engineer,  a  man  who  knew  motor  boating  in  every 
phase  of  its  failures ;  so  that  Allison  and  Tim  Gorman 
were  in  sole  possession  of  the  parlour  compartment, 
and  Tim  looked  up  at  Allison  with  a  complacent  grin, 
as  the  latter  sat  beside  him. 

"  Well,  Eddie,  I  put  in  a  plug  for  you,"  stated  Tim, 
with  the  air  of  one  looking  for  approval. 

"How's  that?"  inquired  Allison,  abstractedly. 

"  Boosted  you  to  the  girl.     Say,  she's  a  peach !  " 

Allison  looked  quickly  back  at  the  platform,  and  then 
frowned  down  on  his  zealous  friend  Tim. 

"  What  did  you  tell  Miss  Sargent  about  me?  " 

"  Don't  you  worry,  Eddie ;  it's  all  right,"  laughed 
Tim.  "  I  hinted  to  her,  so  that  she  had  to  get  it,  that 
you're  about  the  most  eligible  party  in  New  York.  I 
let  her  know  that  no  man  in  this  village  had  ever  skinned 
you.  She  wanted  to  know  how  you  made  this  big  com 
bination,  and  I  told  her  you  made  'em  all  get  off ;  pushed 
'em  off  the  map.  Take  it  from  me,  Eddie,  after  I  got 
through,  she  knew  where  to  find  a  happy  home." 

Allison's  brows  knitted  in  quick  anger,  and  then  sud 
denly  he  startled  the  subway  with  its  first  loud  laugh. 
He  understood  now,  or  thought  he  did,  Gail's  distant 
attitude;  but,  knowing  what  was  the  matter,  he  could 
easily  straighten  it  out. 

"  Thanks,  Tim,"  he  chuckled.  "  Let's  talk  business 
a  minute.  I  had  you  hold  up  the  Vedder  Court  con 
demnation  because  I  got  a  new  idea  last  night.  Those 
buildings  are  unsafe." 


142  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Well,  the  building  commissioners  have  to  make  a 
living,"  considered  Tim. 

"  That's  what  I  think,"  agreed  Allison. 

Tim  Gorman  looked  up  at  him  shrewdly  out  of  his 
puffy  slits  of  eyes,  for  a  moment,  and  considered. 

"  I  get  you,"  he  said,  and  the  business  talk  being 
concluded,  Allison  went  forward. 

"  McCarthy,"  he  snapped,  in  a  voice  which  grated ; 
"  what  are  all  those  boxes  back  in  the  beginning  of  the 
'  Y  »  of  the  West  Docks  branch?  " 

"  Blasting  material,"  and  McCarthy  looked  uncom 
fortable. 

"  Get  it  out,"  ordered  Allison,  and  returned  to  Tim. 

The  girls  and  Ted  came  back  presently,  and,  with 
their  arrival,  Gail  brought  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd 
into  the  crowd,  thereupon  they  resolved  themselves  into 
some  appearance  of  sociability,  and  Allison,  for  the 
amusement  of  the  company,  slyly  started  old  Tim  Gor 
man  into  a  line  of  personal  reminiscences,  so  replete  in 
unconscious  humour  and  so  frank  in  unconscious  dis 
closure  of  callous  knavery,  that  the  company  needed  no 
other  entertainment. 

Out  into  the  open,  where  the  sun  paled  the  electric 
lights  of  the  car  into  a  sickly  yellow,  up  into  the  air, 
peering  into  third  story  tenements  and  down  narrow 
alleys,  aflutter  with  countless  flapping  pieces  of  laun 
dry  work,  then  suddenly  into  the  darkness  of  the  tunnel 
again,  then  out,  on  the  surface  of  country  fields,  and 
dreary  winter  landscape,  to  the  terminal.  It  was  more 
cosy  in  the  tunnel,  and  they  returned  there  for  lunch, 
while  the  general  manager  and  the  general  engineer  and 
the  general  construction  manager  of  the  Municipal 
Transportation  Company,  with  occasional  crisp  visits 
from  President  Allison,  soberly  discussed  the  condi- 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    143 

tion  of  the  line.  The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  displayed 
an  unexpected  technical  interest  in  that  subject.  He 
had  taken  an  engineering  course  in  college,  and,  in  fact, 
he  had  once  wavered  seriously  between  that  occupation 
and  the  Church,  and  he  put  two  or  three  questions  so 
pertinent  that  he  awakened  a  new  respect  in  Allison. 
Allison  took  the  rector  to  the  observation  platform  to 
explain  something  in  the  construction  of  the  receding 
tunnel,  and  as  they  stood  there  earnestly  talking,  with 
concentrated  brows  and  eyes  searching  into  each  other 
for  quick  understanding,  Gail  Sargent  was  suddenly 
struck  by  a  wonder  as  to  what  makes  the  differences 
in  men.  Allison,  slightly  stocky,  standing  with  his  feet 
spread  sturdily  apart  and  his  hands  in  his  coat  pockets, 
and  his  clean-cut  profile  slightly  upturned  to  the  young 
rector,  was  the  very  epitome  of  force,  of  decisive  action, 
of  unconquerable  will.  He  seemed  to  fairly  radiate  re 
sistless  energy,  and  as  she  looked,  Gail  was  filled 
with  the  admiration  she  had  often  felt  for  this  exponent 
of  the  distinctively  American  spirit  of  achievement.  She 
had  never  seen  the  type  in  so  perfect  an  example,  and 
again  there  seemed  to  wave  toward  her  that  indefinable 
thrill  with  which  he  had  so  often  impressed  her.  Was 
the  thrill  altogether  pleasurable?  She  could  not  tell, 
but  she  did  know  that  with  it  there  was  mixed  a  some 
thing  which  she  could  not  quite  fathom  in  herself.  Was 
it  dislike?  No,  not  that.  Was  it  resentment?  Was 
it  fear?  She  asked  herself  that  last  question  again. 

The  young  rector  was  vastly  different;  taller  and 
broader-shouldered,  and  more  erect  of  carriage,  and 
fully  as  firm  of  profile,  he  did  not  somehow  seem  to  im 
press  her  with  the  strength  of  Allison.  He  was  more 
temperamental,  and,  consequently,  more  susceptible  to 
change;  therefore  weaker.  Was  that  deduction  cor- 


144  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

rect?  She  wondered,  for  it  troubled  her.  She  was  not 
quite  satisfied. 

Suddenly  there  came  a  dull,  muffled  report,  like  the 
distant  firing  of  a  cannon ;  then  an  interval  of  silence, 
an  infinitesimal  one,  in  which  the  car  ran  smoothly  on, 
and,  half  rising,  they  looked  at  each  other  in  startled 
questioning.  Then,  all  at  once,  came  a  stupendous 
roar,  as  if  the  world  had  split  asunder,  a  jolting 
and  jerking,  a  headlong  stoppage,  a  clattering,  and 
slapping  and  crashing  and  grinding,  deafening  in  its 
volume,  and  with  it  all,  darkness ;  blackness  so  intense 
that  it  seemed  almost  palpable  to  the  touch ! 

There  was  a  single  shriek,  and  a  nervous  laugh  verg 
ing  on  hysteria.  The  shriek  was  from  Arly,  and  the 
laugh  from  Lucile.  There  was  a  cry  from  the  forward 
end  of  the  car,  as  if  some  one  in  pain.  A  man's  yell 
of  fright;  Greggory  the  general  manager.  A  strong 
hand  clutched  Gail's  in  the  darkness,  firm,  reassuring. 
The  rector. 

"Don't  move!"  it  was  the  voice  of  Allison,  crisp, 
harsh,  commanding. 

"  Anybody  hurt  ?  "  Tim  Gorman,  the  voice  of  age, 
but  otherwise  steady.  One  could  sense,  somehow,  that 
he  sat  rigid  in  his  chair,  with  both  hands  on  his  cane. 

"  It's  me,"  called  Tom,  the  motorman.  "  Head  cut 
a  little,  arm  bruised.  Nothing  bad." 

"Gail?"     Allison  again. 

"  Yes."  Clear  voiced,  with  the  courage  which  has  no 
sex. 

"Mrs.  Teasdale?     Mrs.  Fosland?" 

Both  all  right,  one  a  trifle  sharp  of  voice,  the  other 
nervous. 

"Ted?  Doctor  Boyd?"  and  so  through  the  list. 
Everybody  safe. 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    145 

"  It  is  an  accidental  blast,"  said  the  voice  of  Alli 
son.  He  had  figured  that  a  concise  statement  of  just 
what  had  happened  might  expedite  organisation.  "  We 
are  below  the  Farmount  Ridge,  over  a  hundred  feet 
deep,  and  the  tube  has  caved  in  on  us.  There  must  be 
no  waste  of  exertion.  Don't  move  until  I  find  what 
electrical  dangers  there  are." 

They  obeyed  his  admonition  not  to  move,  even  tcr  the 
extent  of  silence ;  for  there  was  an  instinct  that  Al 
lison  might  need  to  hear  minutely.  He  made  his  way 
into  the  front  compartment,  he  called  the  chief  engineer. 
There  was  a  clanking  of  the  strange  looking  implements 
on  the  floor  of  the  car.  A  match  flared  up,  and  showed 
the  pale  face  of  the  engineer  bending  over. 

"  No  matches,"  ordered  Allison.  "  We  may  need  the 
oxygen." 

He  and  the  engineer  made  their  way  back  into  the 
parlour  compartment.  They  took  up  the  door  of  the 
motor  well  in  the  floor,  and  in  a  few  minutes  they  re 
placed  it.  From  the  sounds  they  seemed  remarkably 
clumsy. 

"  That  much  is  lucky,"  commented  Allison.  "  The 
next  thing  is  to  dig." 

They  were  quiet  a  moment. 

"  In  front  or  behind?  "  wondered  the  engineer. 

Again  a  pause. 

"  In  front,"  decided  Allison.  "  The  explosion  came 
from  that  direction,  and  has  probably  shaken  down  more 
of  the  soil  there  than  behind,  but  it's  solid  clay  in  the 
rear,  and  further  out." 

Gail  felt  the  rector's  hand  suddenly  leave  her  ov/n. 
It  had  been  wonderfully  comforting  there  in  the  dark; 
so  firm  and  warm  and  steady.  He  had  not  talked  much 
to  her,  just  a  few  reassuring  words,  in  that  low,  melodi- 


146  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ous  voice,  which  thrilled  her  as  did  occasionally  the 
touch  of  Allison's  hand,  as  did  the  eyes  of  Dick  Rod- 
ley.  But  she  had  received  more  strength  from  the  voice 
of  Allison.  He  was  big,  Allison,  a  power,  a  force,  a 
spirit  of  command.  She  began,  for  the  first  time,  to 
comprehend  his  magnitude. 

"  What  have  we  to  dig  with  ?  "  The  voice  of  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  and  there  was  a  note  of  eager 
ness  in  it. 

"  The  benches  up  in  front  here,"  yelled  McCarthy, 
and  there  was  a  ripping  sound  as  he  tore  the  seat  from 
one  of  them. 

"  Pardon  me."  It  was  the  voice  of  the  rector,  up 
in  front. 

"  The  balance  of  you  sit  down,  and  keep  rested," 
ordered  Allison,  now  also  up  in  front.  "  McCarthy, 
Boyd  and  I  go  first." 

The  long  struggle  began.  The  girls  grouped  to 
gether  in  the  back  of  the  car,  moving  but  very  little, 
for  there  was  much  broken  glass  about.  Up  in  front 
the  three  men  could  be  heard  making  an  opening  into 
the  debris  through  the  forward  windows.  They  talked 
a  great  deal,  at  first,  strong,  capable  voices.  They 
were  interfering  with  each  other,  then  helping,  com 
bining  their  strength  to  move  heavy  stones  and  the  like, 
then  they  were  silent,  working  independently,  or  in  ef 
fective  unison. 

Tim  Gorman  was  the  possessor  of  a  phosphorescent- 
faced  watch,  with  twenty-two  jewels  on  the  inside  and 
a  ruby  on  the  winding  stem,  and  he  constituted  him 
self  timekeeper. 

"  Thirty  minutes,"  he  called  out.     "  It's  our  shift." 

"  You'd  better  save  yourself,  Tim,"  suggested  Greg- 
gory,  in  a  kindly  tone. 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    147 

"  I'll  do  as  much  as  any  of  you !  "  growled  old  Tim, 
with  the  will,  if  not  the  quality,  of  youth  in  his  voice. 
"  Will  one  of  you  girls  take  care  of  my  rings  ?  "  and 
stripping  them  from  his  fingers,  he  laid  them  carefully 
in  the  outstretched  hands  of  Arly.  There  was  a  good 
handful  of  them. 

The  men  crawled  in  from  outside,  but  they  stayed  in 
the  front  compartment.  The  air  was  growing  a  trifle 
close,  and  they  breathed  heavily. 

"  Good-bye  Girl,"  called  the  gaily  funereal  voice  of 
Ted  Teasdale.  "  Husband  is  going  to  work." 

"  Put  on  your  gloves,"  Lucile  reminded  him. 

"  Greggory,"  called  Allison. 

"  Here,"  responded  the  careless  fat  man.  "  How  did 
you  find  it  ?  " 

"  Loose,"  reported  Allison,  and  there  was  a  sound 
suspiciously  like  grunting,  as  Greggory  crawled  through 
the  narrow  opening. 

Another  interminable  wait,  while  the  air  grew  more 
stifling.  There  was  no  further  levity  after  Lincoln  and 
the  motorman  and  McCarthy  had  come  back;  for  the 
condition  was  becoming  serious.  Some  air  must  un 
doubtedly  be  finding  its  way  to  the  car  through  the 
loose  debris,  but  the  carbonic  acid  gas  exhaled  from  a 
dozen  pairs  of  lungs  was  beginning  to  pocket,  and  the 
opening  ahead,  though  steadily  pushing  forward,  dis 
played  no  signs  of  lessening  solidity. 

They  established  shorter  shifts  now;  a  quarter  of 
an  hour.  The  men  came  silently  in  and  out,  and  as  si 
lently  worked,  and  as  silently  rested,  while  the  girls 
carried  that  heavy  burden  of  women's  hardest  labour; 
waiting ! 

Greggory  was  the  first  to  give  out,  then  the  injured 
motorman.  When  their  turns  came,  they  had  not  the 


148  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

strength  nor  the  air  in  their  lungs.  Strong  McCarthy 
was  the  next  to  join  them. 

The  shifts  had  reduced  to  two,  of  two  men  each  by 
now ;  Ted  and  old  Tim,  and  Allison  and  the  rector ; 
and  these  latter  two  worked  double  time.  Their  lips 
and  their  tongues  were  parched  and  cracking,  and  in 
their  periods  of  rest  they  sat  motionlessly  facing  each 
other,  with  a  wheeze  in  the  drawing  of  their  breath. 
Their  stentorian  breathing  could  be  heard  from  the  for 
ward  end  of  their  little  tunnel  clear  back  into  the  car, 
where  the  three  girls  were  battling  to  preserve  their 
senses  against  the  poisonous  gases  which  were  now  all 
that  they  had  to  breathe.  Acting  on  the  rector's  ad 
vice,  they  had  stood  up  in  the  car  to  escape  the  gradu 
ally  rising  level  of  the  carbonic  gas,  stood,  as  the  time 
progressed,  with  their  mouths  agape  and  their  breasts 
heaving  and  sharp  pains  in  their  lungs  at  every  breath. 
Arly  dropped,  silently  crumpling  to  the  floor;  then,  a 
few  minutes  later,  Lucile,  and,  panic-stricken  by  the 
thought  that  they  had  gone  under,  Gail  felt  her  own 
senses  reeling,  when  suddenly,  looking  ahead  through 
eyes  which  were  staring,  she  saw  a  crack  of  blessed 
light! 

There  was  a  hoarse  cry  from  ahead!  The  crack  of 
light  widened.  Another  one  appeared,  some  four  feet 
to  the  right  of  it,  and  Gail  already  fancied  that  she 
could  feel  a  freshening  of  the  air  she  breathed  with 
such  tearing  pain.  Against  the  light  of  the  openings, 
two  figures,  the  only  two  which  were  left  to  work,  strove, 
at  first  with  the  slow,  limp  motions  of  exhaustion,  and 
then  with  the  renewed  vigour  of  approaching  triumph. 
She  could  distinguish  them  clearly  now,  by  the  light 
'which  streamed  in,  the  stocky,  strong  figure  of  Allison 
and  the  tall,  sinewy  figure  of  the  rector.  They  were 


THE  SURVIVAL  OF  THE  FITTEST    149 

working  frantically,  Allison  with  his  coat  off,  and  the 
rector  with  his  coat  and  vest  both  removed,  and  one 
sleeve  torn  almost  entirely  from  his  shirt,  revealing  his 
swelling  biceps,  and  a  long,  red  scratch.  Gail's  senses 
were  numbed,  so  that  they  were  reduced  to  almost 
merely  optical  consciousness,  so  that  she  saw  things 
photographically;  but,  even  in  her  numbness,  she  real 
ised  that  what  she  had  thought  a  trace  of  weakness  in 
the  rector,  was  only  the  grace  which  had  rounded  his 
strength. 

The  two  figures  bent  inward  toward  each  other. 
There  was  a  moment  of  mighty  straining,  and  then  the 
whole  centre  between  the  two  cracks  rolled  away.  A 
huge  boulder  had  barred  the  path,  and  its  removal  let 
down  a  rush  of  pure,  fresh  air  from  the  ground  above, 
let  down,  too,  a  flood  of  dazzling  light ;  and  in  the  curv 
ing,  under-rim  of  the  opening,  stood  the  two  stalwart 
men  who  were  the  survival  of  the  fittest!  The  mere 
instinct  of  self-preservation  drove  Gail  forward,  with 
a  cry,  toward  the  source  of  that  life-giving  air,  and  she 
scrambled  through  the  window  and  ran  toward  the  two 
men.  They  came  hurriedly  down  to  meet  her,  and  each 
gave  her  a  hand. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE    FREE    AND    ENTIRELY    UNCURBED 

GAIL  SARGENT  became  suddenly  and  acutely 
aware  of  an  entirely  new  and  ethnological  subdi 
vision  of  the  human  race.  She  had  known  of  Cau 
casians,  Mongolians,  Ethiopians,  and  the  others,  but 
now  she  was  to  meet  the  representatives  of  the  gay, 
carefree,  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropolitan  press ! 
They  figuratively  swarmed  from  the  ground,  dropped 
from  the  eaves,  and  wriggled  from  under  the  rugs! 

Immediately  after  Gail  had  reached  home  from  the 
accident  in  the  subway,  and  had  been  put  to  bed  and 
given  tea,  and  had  repeatedly  assured  the  doctor  there 
was  nothing  the  matter  with  her,  they  brought,  at  her 
urgent  request,  copies  of  the  "  extras,"  which  were  al 
ready  being  yelled  from  every  street  corner  and  down 
every  quiet  residence  block. 

The  accounts  were,  in  the  main,  more  or  less  accurate, 
barring  the  fact  that  they  started  with  the  assumption 
that  there  had  been  one  hundred  in  Allison's  party,  all 
killed.  Later  issues,  however,  regretfully  reduced  the 
number  of  dead  to  forty,  six,  and  finally  none,  at  which 
point  they  became  more  or  less  coherent,  and  gave  an 
exact  list  of  the  people  who  were  there,  the  cause  of  the 
accident,  and  a  most  appreciatively  accentuated  history 
of  the  heroic  work  of  the  men.  Although  she  regretted 
that  her  picture  had  by  this  time  crept  into  the  public 
prints,  grouped  with  the  murders  and  defalcations  of 
the  day,  she  was  able  to  overlook  this  personal  discom 
fort  as  one  of  the  minor  penalties  which  civilisation  has 


FREE  AND  ENTIRELY  UNCURBED     151 

paid  for  its  progress ;  like  electric  light  bugs  and  elec 
tric  fan  neuralgia,  and  the  smell  of  gasolene. 

Long  before  this  period,  however,  the  reporters  had 
tracked  her  to  her  lair ;  so  long  before,  in  fact,  that  there 
had  been  three  of  them  waiting  on  the  doorstep  when 
she  was  brought  into  the  house,  eager  young  men,  with 
a  high  spirit  of  reverence  and  delicacy,  which  was  con 
centrated  entirely  on  their  jobs.  They  would  have  held 
her  on  the  doorstep  until  she  fainted  or  dropped  dead, 
if,  by  so  doing,  they  could  have  secured  one  statement, 
or  hint  of  a  statement,  upon  which  they  could  have  fas 
tened  something  derogatory  to  her  reputation,  or  the 
reputation  of  any  of  her  family  or  friends ;  for  that  was 
great  stuff,  and  what  the  public  wanted ;  and  they  would 
have  photographed  her  gleefully  in  the  process  of  ex 
piring.  Aunt  Helen  Davies,  being  a  woman  of  experi 
ence,  snatched  Gail  into  the  house  before  they  had  taken 
more  than  eight  or  nine  photographs  of  her,  but,  from 
that  instant,  the  doorbell  became  a  nuisance  and  the 
telephone  bell  a  torture!  Both  were  finally  discon 
nected,  but,  at  as  late  an  hour  as  one  A.  M.,  the  house 
was  occasionally  assaulted. 

By  that  time  Gail  had  telegrams  of  frantic  inquiry 
from  all  her  friends  back  home,  including  the  impulsive 
Clemmens,  and  particularly  including  a  telegram  from 
her  mother,  stating  that  that  highly  agitated  lady  could 
not  secure  a  reservation  on  the  first  train  on  account  of 
its  being  Saturday  night,  but  that  she  would  start  on 
the  fast  eleven-thirty  the  next  morning,  whereat  Gail 
kissed  the  telegram,  and  cried  a  little,  and  gave  way  to 
the  moist  joy  of  homesickness. 

In  the  meantime,  the  representatives  of  the  gay  and 
carefree  and  absolutely  uncurbed  metropolitan  press, 
were  by  no  means  discouraged  by  the  fact  that  the^ 


152  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

had  not  been  able  to  secure  much,  except  hectic  imag 
inings  from  the  exterior  of  the  Sargent  house.  They 
were  busy  in  every  other  possible  direction,  with  the 
same  commendable  persistence  which  we  observe  in  an 
ant  trying  to  drag  a  grasshopper  up  and  down  a  corn 
stalk  on  the  way  home.  They  secured  a  straight  story 
from  Allison,  a  modest  one  from  the  rector,  and  vari 
ously  viewed  experiences  from  other  male  members  of 
the  party,  and  collected  huge  piles  of  photographs, 
among  them  the  charming  pictures  of  Gail,  which  had 
previously  been  printed  on  the  innocent  pages  of  ar 
rivals  at  Palm  Beach  and  the  Riviera  and  other  fash 
ionable  winter  resorts,  the  whole  spread  being  headed 
"  What  Society  Is  Doing." 

So  far  the  explosion  editors  of  the  various  papers 
had  seen  nothing  to  particularly  commend  in  the  work 
of  their  fevered  emissaries,  and  even  the  heavy-jawed 
genius  who  gathered,  from  silent  cogitation  over  four 
cigarettes  and  a  quart  of  beer,  the  purple  fiction  that 
the  explosion  had  cracked  the  walls  of  every  subway  in 
the  city,  which  were  likely  to  cave  in  at  any  time,  only 
received  the  compliment  of  a  grateful  grunt. 

Little  Miss  Piper,  of  the  Morning  Planet,  however, 
was  possessed  of  a  better  thought.  She  was  a  some 
what  withered  and  puckered  little  woman,  who  had  sense 
enough  to  dress  so  as  to  excite  nothing  but  pity,  and 
she  quietly  slipped  on  her  ugly  little  bonnet  with  the 
funny  ribbon  bow  in  the  back,  and  hurried  out  to  the 
magnificent  residence  of  Mrs.  Phyllis  Worthmore,  who 
loathed  publicity  and  had  photographs  taken  once  a 
month  for  the  purpose. 

Mrs.  Phyllis  Worthmore  was  invariably  sweet  and 
gracious  to  working  women,  for,  after  all,  they  were 
her  sisters,  you  know;  and  she  excused  herself  from  a 


FREE  AND  ENTIRELY  UNCURBED     153 

caller  in  order  to  meet  little  Miss  Piper  in  Mr.  Worth- 
more's  deserted  den.  Mrs.  Worthmore  was  highly  agi 
tated  over  the  news  of  the  explosion,  and  she  required 
no  particular  urging  to  jabber  on  and  on  about  her 
dear  friends  who  had  been  in  that  terrible  catastrophe, 
and  she  was  ultra  enthusiastic  when  the  name  of  Gail 
was  mentioned. 

"  Oh,  Miss  Sargent  is  quite  the  sensation  of  the  sea 
son  !  "  she  gushed.  "  Her  people  are  fairly  well  to  do, 
I  believe;  but  her  beauty  makes  up  for  the  absence  of 
any  extravagant  fortune.  It  is  commonly  conceded 
that  none  of  the  eligibles  in  our  set  are  available  until 
Miss  Sargent  has  made  her  choice.  Positively  all  of 
them  are  at  her  feet !  "  and,  at  puckered  little  Miss 
Piper's  later  request,  she  lightly  enumerated  a  few  of 
the  eligibles  in  their  set;  after  which  Miss  Piper  took 
to  furtive  glances  at  her  watch,  and  to  feeling  the  ex 
cessively  modulated  voice  of  Mrs.  Phyllis  Worthmore 
pounding  into  her  brain  like  the  clatter  of  a  watch 
man's  rattle. 

The  result  of  that  light-hearted  and  light-headed  in 
terview,  in  which  Mrs.  Phyllis  Worthmore,  by  special 
request,  was  not  quoted,  suddenly  sprang  on  the  star 
tled  eyes  of  Gail,  when  she  leaped  through  the  Sunday 
Morning  Planet  at  eight  o'clock  next  morning.  An 
entire  page,  embellished  in  the  centre  with  a  beautifully 
printed  photograph,  was  devoted  to  the  sensational 
beauty  from  the  middle  west!  Around  her  were 
grouped  nine  smaller  photographs;  Allison,  Dick  Rod- 
ley,  Willis  Cunningham,  Houston  Van  Ploon,  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  a  callow  youth  who  had  danced  with 
her  three  times,  a  Count  who  had  said  "  How  do  you 
do?"  and  sailed  for  Europe,  and  two  men  whom  she 
had  never  met.  All  these  crack  eligibles  were  classi- 


154  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

fied  under  the  general  head  of  "  Slaves  to  Her  Witch 
ing  Smilej"  and  a  big,  boxed-in  list  was  given,  in  ex 
tremely  black-faced  type,  stating,  in  dollars  and  cents, 
the  exact  value  in  the  matrimonial  market  of  each  slave ; 
and  the  lively  genius  who  had  put  together  this  sym 
posium,  by  a  toweringly  happy  thought  conceived  in 
the  very  height  of  the  rush  hours,  totalled  the  whole,  and 
gave  it  as  the  commercial  worth  of  Gail's  beauty  and 
charm.  It  ran  into  thirteen  figures,  including  the  dol 
lar  mark  and  the  two  ciphers  for  cents. 

Nor  was  this  all!  A  lightning  fingered  artist  had 
depicted,  at  the  bottom  of  the  group,  outline  sketches 
of  the  nine  suitors,  on  their  knees  in  a  row,  holding  up, 
towards  the  beautiful  picture  of  Gail  in  the  centre,  their 
hearts  in  one  hand  and  their  bags  of  money  in  the 
other;  and,  even  though  overworked,  the  artist  had  not 
forgotten  to  put  the  Cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honour 
on  the  breast  of  the  Count,  nor  the  sparse  Van  Dyke 
on  Willis  Cunningham.  Flowing  with  further  facile 
fancy,  he  had  embellished  the  upper  right-hand  corner 
of  the  group  with  an  extremely  lithe  and  slim-waisted 
drawing  of  the  streaming  haired  Gail,  as  a  siren  fishing 
in  the  sea;  and  the  sea,  represented  by  many  frothing 
curls,  was,  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner,  densely  pop 
ulated  by  foolish  little  gold  fish,  rushing  eagerly  to  the 
dangling  bait  of  the  siren.  Any  one  of  the  parties 
mentioned  could  have  sued  the  Planet  for  libel ;  but  they 
would  not,  and  they  would  have  been  made  highly  ridic 
ulous  if  they  had,  which  was  the  joke  of  the  whole  mat 
ter,  and  left  the  metropolitan  press  more  and  more 
highly  uncurbed ;  which  was  a  right  sturdily  to  be  main 
tained  in  a  land  of  free  speech! 

When  Lucile  Teasdale  and  Arly  Fosland  arrived  at 
Jim  Sargent's  house  at  ten  o'clock,  and  had  been  let  in 


FREE  AND  ENTIRELY  UNCURBED     155 

at  the  side  entrance,  they  found  Gail  dabbing  her  eyes 
with  a  powder  puff,  taken  from  a  little  black  travelling 
bag  which  stood  open  at  her  side.  Arlene  was  a  sec 
ond  later  than  Lucile  in  clasping  Gail  in  her  arms,  be 
cause  she  had  to  lift  a  travelling  veil.  The  two  girls 
expressed  their  condolence  and  their  horror  of  the  out 
rage,  and  volubly  poured  out  more  sympathy;  then 
they  sat  down  and  shrieked  with  laughter. 

"  It's  too  awful  for  words !  "  gasped  Lucile.  "  But 
it  is  funny,  too." 

Gail's  chin  quivered. 

"  There  should  be  a  law  against  such  things,"  she 
broken-heartedly  returned,  in  a  voice  which  wavered 
and  halted  with  the  echoes  of  recent  sobs. 

"  I'll  put  the  Planet  out  of  business !  "  stormed  Jim 
Sargent,  stalking  up  and  down  the  library,  with  his 
fists  clenched  and  his  face  purple.  "  I'll  bankrupt 
them ! "  and  he  paused,  as  he  passed,  to  reassuringly 
pat  the  shoulder  of  poor  Aunt  Grace,  who  sat  perfectly 
numb  holding  one  thumb  until  the  bone  ached.  Her 
eyes  were  frankly  red,  and  the  creases  of  worry  had 
set  into  her  brow  so  deeply  that  they  must  have  scarred 
her  skull.  "  I'll  hunt  up  the  whelp  who  wrote  that 
stuff,  and  the  cur  who  drew  it,  and  the  dog  who  inserted 
it !  "  frothed  the  raging  Jim.  "  I'll  — " 

"  The  press  is  the  palladium  of  our  national  lib 
erty,  Uncle  Jim,"  drawled  the  soothing  voice  of 
Ted. 

"  You  can't  do  a  thing  about  it,"  counselled  Gerald 
Fosland,  a  stiff  looking  gentleman  who  never  made  a 
mistake  of  speech,  or  manner,  or  attire. 

"  Shucks,  Gail ! "  suddenly  remembered  Lucile. 
"  The  big  Faulker  reception  is  this  week,  and  your 
gown  was  to  be  so  stunning.  Don't  go  home !  " 


156  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  cast  on  her  feather-brained  daugh 
ter  a  glance  of  severe  reproof. 

"Have  you  no  sense  of  propriety,  Lucile?  "  she 
warned.  "  Gail,  very  naturally,  can  not  remain  here 
under  the  circumstances.  It  does  great  credit  to  her 
that,  immediately  upon  realising  this  horrible  occur 
rence,  she  telegraphed  to  her  mother,  without  consult 
ing  any  of  us,  that  she  was  returning." 

"  I  just  wanted  to  go  home,"  said  Gail,  her  chin 
quivering  and  her  pretty  throat  tremulous  with  breath 
pent  from  sobbing. 

"  It'll  all  blow  over,  Gail,"  argued  Uncle  Jim,  in  deep 
distress  because  she  was  going  so  soon.  If  she  had  only 
stopped  long  enough  to  pack  up,  they  might  have  per 
suaded  her  to  stay.  "  Just  forget  it,  and  have  a  good 
time." 

"  Jim,"  ordered  the  stern  voice  of  Aunt  Helen,  "  will 
you  be  kind  enough  to  see  if  any  one  is  out  in  front?  " 

"  Certainly,"  agreed  Jim,  wondering  why  his  wife's 
sister  was  suddenly  so  severe  with  him. 

"  It's  time  to  start,"  called  Ted,  with  practised  wis 
dom  allowing  ten  minutes  for  good-byes,  parting  in 
structions,  and  forgotten  messages. 

The  adieus  were  said.  Aunt  Grace,  clasping  Gail 
in  her  arms,  began  to  sob,  out  of  a  full  heart  and  a 
general  need  for  the  exercise.  Gerald  Fosland  took  the 
hand  of  his  wife  and  kissed  it,  in  most  gallant  fashion. 

"  I  shall  miss  you  dreadfully,  my  dear,"  he  stated. 

"  I  shall  be  thinking  of  you,"  responded  Arlene,  ad 
justing  her  veil. 

Mrs.  Davies  drew  Arlene  into  the  drawing  room. 

"  It  was  so  sweet  of  you  to  agree  to  accompany 
Gail,"  she  observed.  "  It  would  be  useless  to  attempt 


FREE  AND  ENTIRELY  UNCURBED     157 

to  influence  her  now,  but  I  look  to  you  to  bring  her 
back  in  a  week.  Her  prospects  are  really  too  brilliant 
to  be  interrupted  by  an  unfortunate  episode  of  this 
nature." 


CHAPTER  XV 

BUT    WHY    WAS    SHE    LONESOME? 

EVERYBODY  was  at  the  depot  to  meet  Gail;  just 
everybody  in  the  world!  It  was  midnight  when 
the  train  rolled  in,  and,  as  she  came  toward  the  gate, 
the  faces  outside,  with  the  high  station  lights  beaming 
down  upon  their  eagerness,  were  like  a  flashing  dream 
of  all  the  faces  she  had  ever  loved.  Of  course  there 
was  her  mother,  a  little  stiff,  a  little  sedate,  a  little  re 
served,  but,  under  her  calm  exterior,  fluttering  with  a 
flood  of  pent-up  emotion.  There  was  her  father,  a  par 
ticularly  twinkling-eyed  gentleman,  a  somewhat  thinner, 
somewhat  older,  somewhat  neater  edition  of  Uncle  Jim, 
and  he  had,  of  all  things,  her  favourite  collie,  Taffy, 
perched  high  on  his  shoulder!  It  was  from  her  father 
that  Gail  had  her  vivacity  and  from  her  mother  her  fac 
ulty  of  introspection.  Dazed  by  the  unexpected  de 
light,  and  the  pain,  too,  of  seeing  all  these  dear  old 
faces,  she  was  for  picking  them  out  in  detail,  when 
Taffy  made  a  blur  of  them.  Taffy,  suddenly  recognis 
ing  his  playfellow  in  the  throng,  first  deafened  Miles 
Sargent  with  a  series  of  welcoming  barks,  and  then 
began  climbing  up  his  back.  Sargent,  always  gifted 
with  the  capacity  for  over-estimating  his  own  powers, 
a  quality  which  had  permitted  his  brother  Jim  to 
slightly  outrun  him  in  the  game  of  life,  had 
fondly  hoped  that  he  could  restrain  Taffy  by  the  firm 
hold  of  the  forepaws  over  his  shoulder;  but  collies  are 

158 


BUT  WHY  WAS  SHE  LONESOME^     159 

endowed  with  a  separate  set  of  muscles  for  wriggling 
purposes  alone,  and  the  first  thing  Miles  Sargent  knew, 
Taffy  had  crawled  right  over  him,  and  had  kicked  off 
from  his  cravat,  and  had  shot  straight  through  the  out- 
coming  throng,  a  flash  of  yelping  brown  and  white, 
brushing  over  a  woman  with  a  basket,  and  landing 
against  Gail  with  the  force  of  all  his  lively  affection. 

That  was  only  the  beginning  of  the  impetuosity  with 
which  she  was  received  at  home.  She  had  never  re 
alised  that  she  had  quite  so  many  friends,  and  even  the 
people  in  the  street  seemed  familiar,  as  she  was  bundled 
out  to  the  car,  with  Arly  smiling  steadfastly  in  the 
background  and  remembered  only  at  intervals.  They 
looked  more  substantial  and  earnest  and  sincere  and 
friendly,  these  people,  than  the  ones  with  whom  she  had 
been  recently  associated.  They  were  more  polished  in 
New  York,  more  sure  of  themselves,  more  indifferent 
to  the  great  mass  of  their  fellow  humanity,  but  here  one 
could  be  trustful.  It  was  so  good  to  be  home ! 

Of  course  Howard  was  there,  just  the  same  old  How 
ard,  and  he  bustled  up  to  her  with  the  same  old  air  of 
proprietorship,  quite  as  if  nothing  had  ever  happened 
to  disturb  their  relations.  It  was  he  who  took  her  by 
the  arm  and  engineered  her  out  to  her  father's  car.  At 
first  she  was  puzzled  by  his  air  of  having  a  right  to  boss 
her  around,  and  then  the  reason  flashed  on  her  mind. 
Pride!  Howard  did  not  want  their  set  to  know  that 
he  was  no  longer  drum  major  in  the  Sargent  proces 
sion. 

"  There's  a  wad  of  roses  at  the  house  for  you, 
Snapsy,"  her  father  informed  her  as  the  machine 
started,  and  his  brown  eyes  twinkled  until  they  almost 
seemed  to  be  surrounded  by  a  halo.  "  They're  from 
number  one,  I  think." 


160  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Number  one?  "  puzzled  Gail,  who  had  taken  a  fold 
ing  seat  so  that  she  might  occasionally  pat  Taffy,  who 
sat  up  sedately  with  the  chauffeur. 

"  Miles,"  protested  Mrs.  Sargent,  trying  to  direct 
his  glance  toward  Arly. 

"  Edward  E.  Allison,"  grinned  Gail's  father.  "  He 
must  be  a  very  active  gentleman.  Probably  telephoned 
his  own  florist  in  New  York  to  telegraph  Marty  here  to 
supply  you.  Nothing  has  arrived  from  the  other 
eight." 

Gail  had  a  mad  impulse  to  search  for  her  time  table. 
She  remembered  now  —  could  she  ever  forget  it  —  that 
her  nine  slaves  had  been  numbered ! 

"  Dad !  "  she  wailed.  "  You  couldn't  have  seen  that 
awful  paper !  " 

"  We  receive  the  New  York  papers  now  at  four  p. 
M.,"  he  informed  her,  with  an  assumption  of  local  pride 
in  the  fact.  "  This  morning's  Planet  had  a  wonder 
ful  circulation  here.  I  think  everybody  in  town  has 
seen  it." 

Arly  Fosland  had  the  bad  grace  to  giggle.  Mrs. 
Sargent  looked  at  her  dubiously.  She  had,  of  course, 
implicit  confidence  in  Gail's  selection  of  friends,  but 
nevertheless  she  was  not  one  to  make  up  her  own  mind 
too  rapidly. 

"  Everybody's  proud  of  you,  Snapsy !  "  went  on  Miles 
Sargent.  "  That's  a  wonderful  collection  of  slaves  to 
have  made  in  so  short  a  time." 

"Please  don't,  Dad!"  begged  Gail. 

"  For  myself,  I  favour  number  five,"  continued  her 
father,  enjoying  himself  very  much,  and  Arly  Fosland 
made  up  her  mind  that  she  was  going  to  feel  very  home 
like  in  the  Sargent  house,  at  dinner  times.  "  Number 
five  is — " 


BUT  WHY  WAS  SHE  LONESOME'?     161 

"  Miles ! "  and  Mrs.  Sargent  put  her  hand  comfort 
ingly  on  Gail's  knee,  while  she  turned  reproachful  eyes 
on  her  husband. 

"  Why,  Judith,"  protested  Mrs.  Sargent's  husband, 
in  mock  surprise ;  "  number  five  — " 

"  Dad,  I'll  jump  out  of  this  car!  " 

" —  is  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  of  Market  Square 
Church,  the  wealthiest  and  most  fashionable  congrega 
tion  in  the  world.  Number  six  —  Mrs.  Fosland,  I 
couldn't  make  out  number  six  very  well.  I  suppose 
you  know  him. 

Arly  shrieked. 

"  I  can  tell  you  all  about  them,"  she  volunteered, 
judging  that  this  was  perhaps  the  best  way  to  relieve 
Gail's  embarrassment.  "  Number  one,  the  gentleman 
who  sent  the  flowers,  is  a  good-looking  bachelor  of  forty- 
five,  whose  specialty  is  in  making  big  street  car  com 
panies  out  of  little  ones,  and  Gail  hadn't  been  in  New 
York  a  week,  when  he  took  the  first  vacation  he's  had 
in  ten  years.  He'll  probably  go  back  to  work  to-mor 
row  morning.  He  was  the  hero  of  the  wreck." 

"  No  doubt  a  good  provider,"  commented  Mr.  Sar 
gent,  gravely  checking  off  number  one. 

Even  Mrs.  Sargent  was  smiling  now,  but  Gail  was 
looking  interestedly  at  the  old  familiar  street,  and  mar 
velling  that  it  had  changed  so  little.  It  seemed  impos 
sible  that  she  had  only  been  gone  a  few  weeks.  She 
was  particularly  not  hearing  the  flippant  conversation 
in  the  car. 

"  Number  two  is  Dick  Rodley,"  enumerated  Arly, 
remembering  vividly  the  grouping  of  the  nine  slaves. 
"  He's  the  handsomest  man  in  the  world ! " 

"  Probably  fickle." 

"  Number  three,  Willis   Cunningham,     He  wears  a 


162  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

beard.  I'd  rather  talk  about  number  four,  Houston 
Van  Ploon,"  and  she  babbled  on  with  her  descriptions 
of  the  nine  slaves,  until  finally  Gail  laughed  and  helped 
her  out. 

Somehow,  the  returned  wanderer  felt  lonely,  even  with 
three  cars  of  friends  following  her  home,  as  a  guard 
of  honour.  That  was  a  strange  sensation.  Everything 
was  the  same,  all  her  friends  were  steadfast  in  their 
affection,  and  she  was  overjoyed  to  be  back  among 
them;  yet  she  was  lonely.  Who  could  explain  it? 

Here  was  Main  Street.  Dear  old  busy  Main  Street, 
with  its  shops  and  its  hotels  and  its  brilliantly  lighted 
drugstores,  the  latter  only  serving  to  accentuate  the  de 
serted  blackness.  She  was  sorry  that  she  had  not  ar 
rived  at  an  earlier  hour,  when  the  windows  would  have 
been  lighted  and  the  streets  busier  with  people ;  though, 
of  course,  it  was  always  dull  on  Sunday  night.  Cricky ! 
Sunday !  She  had  an  engagement  with  Houston  Van 
Ploon  to  attend  a  concert  to-night,  and  she  had  forgot 
ten  to  send  him  word.  He  had  been  at  Uncle  Jim's, 
stiff  as  a  ramrod  and  punctual  to  the  second,  of  course. 

Taffy,  who  had  been  whining  his  newly  re-aroused 
distress  over  the  absence  of  Gail,  now  suddenly  remem 
bered  that  she  was  home  again,  and  turned  around  with 
a  short,  sharp  bark.  He  stuck  out  his  tongue  and 
rolled  it  at  her,  laughing,  and  his  tail  flopped.  He 
quivered  all  over. 

Now  up  the  avenue,  the  dear  old  wide  avenue,  with 
its  double  rows  of  trees  and  its  smooth  asphalt,  glisten 
ing  like  sprinkling  rain  from  the  quartz  sand  embedded 
in  its  surface,  and  with  the  prosperous  looking  brown 
stone  houses  lining  each  side  of  the  way,  every  house 
with  its  lawn  and  its  shrubbery  and  its  glass-doored 
vestibule.  They  were  nearly  all  alike  these  houses,  even 


BUT  WHY  WAS  SHE  LONESOME1?     163 

to  lawns  and  shrubbery,  except  that  some  of  them  had 
no  iron  dogs  in  the  grass,  and  others  had  no  little  white 
cupids  holding  up  either  a  goose  spouting  water  out 
of  its  mouth  or  an  umbrella  which  furnished  its  own 
rain.  They  were  dear  houses,  every  one,  ever  so  much 
more  personal  than  the  heartless  residences  of  New 
York;  and  her  friends  lived  in  them.  It  was  so  good 
to  be  home! 

She  became  more  excited  now.  There  was  their  own 
house  just  ahead,  occupying  nearly  half  the  block,  and 
slightly  larger  than  the  others !  It  was  brilliantly 
lighted  from  the  basement  to  the  attic,  and  all  the  serv 
ants  were  either  on  the  front  steps  or  peeping  from 
around  the  corner  of  the  house,  and  old  mammy  Emma, 
who  had  cooked  Gail's  own  little  individual  custard  pies 
since  she  was  a  baby,  had  her  apron  to  her  eyes.  Gail's 
heart  was  just  plumb  full !  There  was  no  place,  oh, 
no  place  in  all  the  world  like  home ! 

Taffy  jumped  out  of  the  machine  as  it  turned  in  at 
the  gate,  and  ran  up  ahead  to  bark  a  proper  welcome, 
and  touched  the  top  step  with  a  circle  like  a  whipsnap- 
per,  and  was  back  again,  a  long  brown  and  white  streak 
bellying  down  to  the  grass,  and  prancing  a  circle  around 
the  machine,  and  leaping  in  the  air  to  bark,  and  back 
up  to  the  steps  and  back  to  the  machine ;  then  lay  down 
in  the  grass  and  rolled  over,  and,  jumping  up,  chased 
a  cat  out  of  the  next  yard,  in  the  mere  exuberance  of 
joy;  but  was  back  again  to  crouch  before  Gail,  and 
whine,  as  she  stepped  out  of  the  car. 

Old  Plympton  was  there,  the  hollow-stomached  black 
butler,  whose  long-tailed  coat  dropped  straight  from 
the  middle  of  his  back,  and  flapped  against  the  bend  of 
his  knees  when  he  walked.  His  voice  trembled  when 
he  greeted  Miss  Gail,  and  old  Auntie  Clem,  who  had 


164  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tended  Miss  Gail  when  she  was  a  little  girl  no  bigger 
than  that,  and  until  the  fancy  French  maid  came,  just 
politely  took  her  young  missus  upstairs  to  her  room, 
and  took  off  those  heavy  shoes,  and  made  her  drink  her 
thimble  glass  of  hot-spiced  port  wine.  It  was  so  good 
to  be  home ! 

Of  course  her  friends  had  piled  into  the  house  after 
her,  a  whole  chattering  mob  of  them,  and,  late  as  the 
hour  was,  Vivian  Jennings  opened  the  piano  and  rattled 
into  Auld  Lang  Syne,  which  the  company  sang  with  a 
ringing  zest!  The  tears  filled  Gail's  eyes  as  she  lis 
tened.  They  were  such  faithful,  whole-hearted  peo 
ple  back  here !  It  was  good  to  go  away,  now  and  then, 
just  for  the  joy  of  coming  home  again ;  but  one  should 
not  go  too  often.  After  all,  this  was  a  better  life. 

Auntie  Clem  triumphed.  She  had  Miss  Gail  all  fixed 
up  before  that  fancy  French  maid  had  on  her  trifling 
little  cap  and  her  hair  primped.  Arly,  choosing 
Auntie  Clem  instantly  for  her  personal  attendant  on 
this  brief  visit,  naturally  refused  to  intrude  further  on 
the  home  coming,  and  expressed  herself  as  frantically 
in  love  with  her  little  blue  bedroom  and  boudoir. 

When  Gail  went  downstairs,  in  a  comfortable  little 
red  house  gown  which  was  tremendously  artful  in  its 
simplicity,  she  found  the  whole  jolly  company  in  the 
big  dining  room,  where  Miles  Sargent  had  insisted  on 
opening  something  in  honour  of  the  happy  event.  She 
coloured  as  her  father  turned  his  twinkling  eyes  on  her, 
but  he  did  not  take  occasion  to  call  her  a  slave  driver 
or  to  tease  her  any  further  about  the  work  of  art  which 
had  driven  her  home.  She  reproached  herself  crossly 
for  having  suspected  him  of  such  a  crudity.  Of  course 
he  would  not  do  that ! 

They    had    sandwiches,   and    olives,   and    cake,    and 


BUT  WHY  WAS  SHE  LONESOME4?     165 

cookies  —  trust  Mammy  Emma  for  that  —  and  nuts 
and  fruit  and  bonbons,  and  coffee,  and  champagne. 
Everybody  was  excited,  walking  around  with  a  sand 
wich  in  one  hand  and  an  olive  in  the  other,  joking  with 
Gail,  and  complimenting  her,  and  teasing  her,  but  in 
every  word  and  look  and  action,  showing  that  they  loved 
her. 

She  had  a  new  knowledge  of  them,  an  understanding 
of  what  it  is  like  to  have  a  whole  circle  of  friends  who 
have  grown  up  from  childhood  together.  They  under 
stood  each  other,  and  knew  each  other's  weaknesses  and 
faults,  so  that  they  were  not  shocked  when  they  saw 
evidences  of  them,  and  they  knew  each  other's  virtues, 
so  that  they  did  not  overestimate  anything  and  look 
for  too  much,  and  they  were  dependent  upon  each  other 
and  knew  it,  and  they  were  loyal ;  that  was  it !  Loyal ! 
Loyal  to  the  very  core !  It  was  good,  so  good  to  be 
home! 

No  one  thought  anything  about  it  when  Howard 
Clemmens  stayed  behind,  after  all  the  rest  had  gone 
home.  Howard  had  always  done  that.  It  was  his 
right. 

Howard  was  distressed  in  his  mind  about  several 
things,  and,  out  of  a  habitual  acquiescence  in  his  old 
assumption  of  leadership,  and  because  she  was  tired, 
and  because  she  was  tender  of  thought  toward  all  her 
old  friends,  she  answered  his  very  direct  questions. 
Yes,  she  had  finished  her  visit.  No,  she  was  not  en 
gaged.  That  atrocious  newspaper  article  had  only  been 
a  regular  Sunday  paper  social  sensation.  They  fas 
tened  that  sort  of  a  story  on  some  one  at  least  once  a 
year.  These  little  matters  settled,  Howard  was  him 
self  again.  He  was  very  glad  that  Gail  had  returned  to 
her  normal  mode  of  existence,  and  now  that  all  this 


166  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

foolishness  was  over,  he  took  the  earliest  oppor 
tunity  to  mention  the  little  matter  between  them. 
Would  Gail  reconsider  her  answer  to  the  question  he 
had  asked  her  in  New  York?  He  informed  her  fully 
as  to  the  state  of  his  affections,  which  had  not  changed 
in  the  least,  and  he  rather  expected  that  this  magnani 
mous  attitude  on  his  part  would  meet  with  melting  ap 
preciation.  He  was  very  much  astonished  that  it  did 
not,  and  displeased  when  she  refused  him  again.  Con 
found  it,  he  had  not  given  her  time  to  settle  down! 

She  was  only  slightly  troubled  when  he  bade  her 
good  night.  She  was  sorry  that  she  could  not  see  the 
matter  as  he  did,  but  there  was  no  trace  of  doubt  in  her 
mind.  Somehow,  Howard  seemed  rather  colourless  of 
late.  He  was  a  dear,  good  boy;  but  she  was  not  the 
kind  of  a  girl  he  needed. 

With  only  as  much  trouble  on  her  brow  as  could  be 
smoothed  away  by  her  fingertips,  she  went  back  into 
the  dining  room,  where  her  father,  who  liked  to  have  a 
table  near  him,  was  enjoying  an  extra  cup  of  coffee  with 
his  cigar,  and  shedding  the  mild  disapproval  of  Mrs. 
Sargent,  who  foresaw  a  restless  night  for  him.  Gail, 
who  had  not  spared  time  for  food,  poured  herself  a 
glass  of  water,  picked  up  one  of  the  delicious  little 
chicken  sandwiches,  and  sat  down,  within  easy  leaning 
distance  of  her  father,  for  one  of  the  good,  old-time, 
comfortable  family  chats.  Taffy  curled  around  her 
feet,  and  the  group  was  complete. 

Somehow,  that  inexplicable  feeling  of  loneliness  re 
turned  to  her,  in  the  midst  of  this  most  dear  intimacy. 
What  was  it?  No  one  can  form  far  ties  without  leav 
ing  behind  some  enduring  thread  of  spiritual  communi 
cation;  for  better  or  for  worse. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

GAIL   AT    HOME 

*  '  T   HEAR  Miss  Gail's  back  home."     It  was  the  "ice 

•*-  man.  He  had  given  her  slivers  of  ice  in  the 
days  when  she  had  wished  that  she  were  a  boy. 

"  Yassum."  Mammy  Emma.  She  said  "  Yassum  " 
to  everybody ;  men,  women,  and  children. 

Gail,  still  snuggled  in  the  pillows,  smiled  affection 
ately,  and  knew  what  time  it  was.  She  reached  lazily 
out  and  pressed  the  button. 

"  Prettier  than  ever,  I  suppose."  A  slam  and  a 
bang  and  a  rattle  of  crockery. 

"  Heaps."  The  clink  of  a  muffin  pan.  Gail  knew 
the  peculiar  sound  from  that  of  all  the  other  pans  in 
the  house.  "  I  thought  I  done  tole  you  yeahs  ago  to 
saw  that  ice  straight.  Does  it  fit  that  away?  " 

"  All  right,  Emma."  The  slam  of  a  lid.  "  I'll  re 
member  it  next  time.  Miss  Gail  home  for  good?  " 

"  Praise  the  Lawd,  yes." 

The  clank  of  ice  tongs. 

"  She's  a  fine  girl !  "  This  with  profound  conviction. 
"  She  didn't  get  her  head  turned  and  marry  any  of 
those  rich  New  Yorkers." 

"She  could  if  she'd  V  wanted  to!"  This  indig 
nantly. 

"  Sure  she  could."  Sounds  of  a  heavy  booted  ice 
man  coming  down  the  steps  of  the  kitchen  porch.  "  New 

167 


168  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

York  papers  said  she  could  have  her  pick ;  but  she  come 
back  home." 

Gail's  maid  came  in,  a  neat  French  girl  who  had  an 
artist's  delight  in  her.  She  shivered  and  closed  the 
windows. 

"  Arly ! " 

"  Good  morning,"  came  a  cheerful  voice  through 
three  open  doors.  "  I'm  up  hours,"  and  Arly  trotted 
in,  fresh-eyed  and  smiling,  clad  in  a  rich  blue  velvet 
boudoir  robe  and  her  black  hair  braided  down  her  back. 
"  I  peeped  in  a  few  minutes  ago,  but  you  were  sound 
asleep.  I  want  my  coffee." 

"  You  poor  infant,"  and  Gail  promptly  slid  two  pink 
feet  out  of  bed  to  be  slippered  by  Nanette.  "  I'll  be 
ready  in  a  minute.  Why  didn't  you  ring?  " 

"  I  did.  Aunty  Clem  was  up  and  took  all  the  burden 
of  living  away  from  me.  I  wouldn't  have  coffee  by 
myself,  though.  I  get  that  at  home,"  and  there  was 
the  slightest  trace  of  wistfulness  in  her  tone. 

"  Call  Clem  again,"  directed  Gail.  "  Shall  we  have 
it  in  your  dressing  room  or  mine?  " 

"  All  over  both  suites,"  laughed  Arly.  "  I  shall 
never  have  enough  of  these  beautiful  little  rooms,"  and 
she  hurried  back  to  her  own  quarters,  to  summons,  once 
more,  the  broadly  smiling  face  of  Aunty  Clem. 

That  was  the  beginning  of  the  first  morning  at  home, 
with  every  delightful  observance  just  as  it  had  used 
to  be;  first  the  fragrant  coffee,  and  the  pathetically 
good  hot  muffins  and  jam;  then  the  romping,  laughing, 
splashing  process  of  dressing;  then  interrupted  by  a 
visit  from  Mrs.  Sargent,  and  from  Taffy,  and  from 
Vivian  Jennings,  who  lived  next  door,  and  from  Madge 
Frazier,  who  had  stayed  the  night  with  Vivian ;  then  a 
race  out  to  the  stables,  to  say  good  morning  to  the 


GAIL  AT  HOME  169 

horses,  and  laughing  with  moist  eyes,  hear  their  excited 
whinnies  of  greeting,  and  slip  them  lumps  of  sugar; 
then  to  the  kennels  to  be  half  smothered  by  the  eager 
collies;  then  over  to  Vivian's,  to  surround  deaf  old 
grandmother  Jennings  with  the  flowers  she  loved  best, 
the  faces  of  young  girls ;  then  back  to  the  house  and  the 
telephone,  for  a  cheery  good  morning  to  everybody  in 
the  world,  beginning  with  Dad,  who  was  already  plug 
ging  away  in  his  office,  the  morning  half  gone,  and  look 
ing  forward  to  lunch. 

Breakfast  at  eleven,  a  brisk  horseback  ride,  a  change, 
and  Gail's  little  grey  electric  was  at  the  door.  There 
was  a  tremendous  lot  of  shopping  to  be  done.  To  be 
gin  with,  sixteen  new  hair  ribbons,  and  nine  fancy  mar 
bles,  not  the  big  ones  that  you  can't  use,  but  the  regular 
unattainable  fifteen  centers,  and  twenty-five  pears,  and 
twenty-five  small  boxes  of  candy,  and  eleven  pound 
packages  of  special  tea,  and  six  pound  packages  of 
special  tobacco,  and  one  quart  of  whiskey,  and  eighteen 
bunches  of  red  carnations,  five  to  the  bunch,  five  group 
ing  better  than  four  or  six.  None  of  these  things  were 
to  be  delivered.  Gail  piled  them  all  in  her  coupe",  and, 
after  saying  "  howdydo  "  to  about  everybody  on  Main 
Street,  and  feeling  immensely  uplifted  thereby,  she  in 
serted  Arly  in  among  the  carnations  and  pears  and  to 
bacco  and  things,  and  whirled  her  out  to  Chickentown, 
which  was  the  actively  devilish  section  of  the  city  al 
lotted  to  Gail's  church  work. 

There  were  those  of  the  guild  who  made  of  this  re 
ligious  duty  a  solemn  and  serious  task,  to  be  entered 
upon  with  sweet  piety  and  uplifting  words;  but  Gail 
had  solved  her  problem  in  a  fashion  which  kept  Chick 
entown  from  hating  her  and  charity.  She  distributed 
flowers  and  pears  and  tobacco  and  things,  and  perfectly 


THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

human  smiles,  and  a  few  commonsensfe  observations 
when  they  seemed  to  be  necessary,  and  scoldings 
where  they  seemed  due,  and  it  was  a  lasting  trib 
ute  to  her  diplomacy  and  popularity  that  all  the  new 
born  babies  in  the  district  were  named  either  Gail  or 
Gale. 

Chickentown  lay  in  a  smoky  triangle,  entirely  sur 
rounded  by  railroad  yards  and  boiler  factories  and 
packing  houses  and  the  like,  and  it  was  as  feudal  in  its 
instincts  as  any  stronghold  of  old.  Its  womenfolk 
would  not  market  where  the  Black  Creek  women  mar 
keted,  its  men  would  not  drink  in  the  same  saloons,  and 
its  children  came  home  scarred  and  prowed  from  gory 
battles  with  the  Black  Creek  gang;  yet,  in  their  little 
cottages  and  in  their  tiny  yards  was  the  neatness  of 
local  pride,  which  had  sprung  up  immediately  after  Gail 
had  inaugurated  the  annual  front  yard  flower  prize 
system. 

No  sooner  had  the  familiar  coupe  crossed  the 
Black  Creek  bridge  than  a  yell  went  up,  which  could 
be  heard  echoing  and  reverberating  from  street  to  street 
throughout  the  entire  domain  of  Chickentown!  One 
block  inside  the  fiefdom,  the  progress  of  the  car  was 
impeded  by  exactly  twenty-five  children.  By  some 
miracle  they  all  arrived  at  nearly  the  same  time,  the 
only  difference  being  that  those  who  had  come  the 
farthest  were  the  most  out  of  breath.  Gail  jumped  out 
among  them,  and  twenty-five  right  hands  went  straight 
up  in  the  air.  She  inspected  the  hands  critically,  one 
by  one,  and,  by  that  inspection  alone,  divided  the  mobs 
into  two  groups,  the  clean  handed  ones,  who  were  mostly 
girls,  and  the  dirty-handed  ones,  who  looked  sorry. 
She  shook  hands  with  the  first  group,  and  she  smiled  on 


GAIL  AT  HOME  171 

both,  and  she  distributed  hair  ribbons  and  marbles  and 
pears  and  candy  with  cordial  understanding. 

"  It  doesn't  do  for  me  to  be  away  so  long,"  she  con 
fessed,  looking  them  over  regretfully.  "  I  don't  be 
lieve  you  are  as  clean." 

Those  who  were  as  clean  looked  consciously  hurt,  but 
for  the  most  part  they  looked  guilty ;  and  Gail  apolo 
gised  individually,  to  those  who  merited  it. 

"  Now  we'll  hear  the  troubles,"  she  announced ;  "  and 
you  must  hurry.  The  cleanest  first." 

Twenty-five  hands  went  up,  and  she  picked  out  the 
cleanest,  a  neat  little  girl  with  yellow  hair  and  blue 
eyes  and  a  prim  little  walk,  who  shyly  came  forward 
alone  out  of  the  group  and  wiggled  her  interlocked 
fingers  behind  her,  while  Gail  sat  in  the  door  of  her 
coupe  and  held  her  court. 

A  half-whispered  conversation ;  a  genuine  trouble, 
and  some  sound  and  sensible  advice.  Yellow  Hair  did 
not  like  her  school-teacher;  and  what  was  she  to  do 
about  it?  A  difficult  problem  that,  and  while  Gail  was 
inculcating  certain  extremely  cautious  lessons  of  min 
gled  endurance  and  diplomacy,  which  would  have  been 
helpful  to  grown-ups  as  well  as  to  yellow-haired  little 
girls,  and  which  Gail  reflected  that  she  might  herself 
use  with  profit,  Arly,  with  an  entirely  new  sort  of  smile 
in  her  softened  eyes,  walked  over  to  the  chattering 
group,  all  of  whom  had  troubles  to  relate,  and  asked  a 
boy  to  have  a  bill  changed  for  her  into  quarter  dollars. 
The  boy  looked  at  his  hand. 

"  I  guess  I  won't  be  next  for  a  long  time,"  and  taking 
the  bill  ran  for  the  candy  shop,  which  was  nearest. 
There  were  seven  places  of  retail  business  in  Chicken- 
town,  and  since  they  dealt  mostly  in  coppers,  he  ex 
pected  to  be  a  long  time  on  this  errand. 


172  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Arly  watched  Gail  handle  the  case  of  a  particularly 
black-eyed  little  girl,  whose  brother  was  getting  too 
big  to  play  with  her  any  more ;  and  she  grew  wistful. 

"Do  you  mind  if  I  hear  a  few  troubles,  Gail?  "  she 
requested. 

"  Help  yourself,"  was  the  laughing  reply.  "  I  think 
there's  enough  to  go  around." 

"  I'll  begin  at  the  other  end,"  decided  Arly.  "  Put 
up  your  hands,  kiddies,"  and  they  went  up  slowly.  She 
conscientiously  picked  the  dirtiest  one,  but  the  boy  who 
owned  it  came  forward  with  a  reluctance  which  was  al 
most  sullen. 

"  I  druther  tell  Miss  Gail,"  he  frankly  informed  her. 

"  Of  course,"  Arly  immediately  agreed,  smiling  down 
into  his  eyes  with  more  charm  than  she  had  seen  fit  to 
exert  on  anybody  in  many  months.  "  But  you  can 
tell  Miss  Gail  about  it  afterwards,  if  you  like,  or  you 
might  tell  me  your  littlest  trouble  and  save  your  big 
gest  one  for  Miss  Gail." 

"  I  ain't  got  but  one,"  responded  the  boy,  and  he 
looked  searchingly  into  Arly's  black  eyes.  Her  being 
pretty,  like  Gail,  was  a  recommendation. 

"  There's  a  kid  over  in  Black  Creek  that  I  used  to 
lick;  but  now  he's  got  me  faded." 

From  his  intensity,  this  was  a  serious  trouble,  and 
Arly  considered  it  seriously. 

"  Does  he  fight  fairly  ?  "  she  asked,  and  that  one  ques 
tion  alone  showed  that  she  knew  the  first  principles 
of  human  life  and  conduct,  which  was  rare  in  a  girl  or 
woman  of  any  type. 

He  came  a  step  closer,  and  looked  up  into  her  eyes 
with  all  his  reservation  gone. 

"  Yessum,"  he  confessed,  and  there  was  something  of 
a  clutch  in  his  throat  which  would  never  grow  up  to 


GAIL  AT  HOME  173 

be  a  sob,  but  which  would  have  been  one  in  a  girl.  He'd 
rather  have  lied,  but  you  couldn't  get  any  useful  advice 
that  way. 

"  Maybe  he's  growing  faster  than  you." 

"  Yessum.  I  eat  all  the  oatmeal  they  give  me,  and 
I  take  trainin'  runs  every  evening  after  school,  clear  up 
to  Scraggers  Park  and  back ;  but  it  don't  do  any  good." 

Arly  pondered. 

"  When  does  he  lick  you  ?  "  she  asked. 

"  Right  after  supper  when  he  catches  me." 

"  Do  you  play  all  day  ?  " 

"  I  go  to  school." 

"Baseball?" 

"  Yessum.  Baseball,  and  one-old-cat,  and  two-old- 
cat,  and  rounders,  and  marbles,  and  prisoner's  base, 
and  high-spy,  but  mostly  baseball  and  marbles." 

Arly  studied  the  future  citizen  with  the  eye  of  a 
practical  physical  culturist,  who  knew  exactly  how  she 
had  preserved  her  clear  complexion  and  lithe  figure. 
In  spite  of  his  sturdy  build,  there  was  not  enough  pro 
tuberance  to  his  chest,  and,  though  his  cheeks  were  full 
enough,  there  was  a  hollow  look  about  his  jaws  and 
around  his  eyes. 

"  You're  over-trained,"  she  decisively  told  him. 
"  You  mustn't  play  marbles  very  often,  or  very  long 
at  a  tijne,  because  that  stooping  over  in  the  dust  isn't 
good  for  you,  and  you  mustn't  take  your  training  runs 
up  to  that  park.  The  other  boy  licks  you  because 
you're  all  tired  out.  I  don't  believe  it's  because  he's  a 
better  fighter." 

That  boy  breathed  with  the  sigh  of  one  freed  from  a 
mighty  burden,  and  the  eyes  which  looked  up  into 
Arly's  were  almost  swimming  with  gratitude. 

"  She's  all  right,"  he  told  the  next  candidate.    "  She's 


174  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

a  pippin!  Say,  do  you  know  what's  the  matter  with 
me?  I'm  over-trained,"  and  he  smacked  his  chest  re 
sounding  whacks  and  felt  of  his  biceps. 

There  were  troubles  of  all  sorts  and  shapes  and  sizes, 
and  Arly  bent  to  them  more  concentrated  wisdom  than 
she  had  been  called  upon  to  display  for  years.  It  was 
a  new  game,  one  with  a  live  zest,  and  Gail  had  invented 
it.  Her  admiration  for  Gail  went  up  a  notch.  One 
boy  was  not  so  funny  as  his  brother,  and  was  never 
noticed;  another  had  to  eat  turnips;  and  Arly's  only 
little  girl,  for  she  had  started  at  the  boy  end,  couldn't 
have  little  slippers  that  pinched  her  feet! 

"  I'm  glad  I  came  home  with  you,"  commented 
Arly,  when  she  had  finished  her  court  and  had  distrib 
uted  her  money,  which  Gail  had  permitted  her  just  this 
once,  and  they  had  driven  up  the  block  attended  by 
an  escort  of  exactly  twenty-five.  "  It  makes  me  think, 
and  I'd  almost  forgotten  how." 

"  It  makes  me  think,  too,"  confessed  Gail,  very  seri 
ously.  "  Suppose  I  should  go  away.  They'd  go  right 
on  living,  but  I  like  to  flatter  myself  that  I'm  doing 
more  good  for  them  than  somebody  else  could  do."  Why 
that  thought  had  worried  her  she  could  not  say.  She 
was  home  to  stay  now,  except  for  the  usual  trips. 

"  You'd  find  the  same  opportunities  anywhere,"  Arly 
quickly  assured  her. 

"  Yes,  but  they  wouldn't  be  these  same  children,"  wor 
ried  Gail.  "  I'd  never  know  others  like  I  know  these." 

"  No,"  admitted  Arly  slowly.  "  I  think  I'll  pick  out 
a  few  when  I  go  back  home.  I've  often  wondered  how 
to  do  it,  without  having  them  think  me  a  fool  or  a  nosy, 
but  you've  solved  the  problem.  You're  tremendously 
clever." 

"  Here's  Granny  Jones's,"  interrupted  Gail,  with  a 


GAIL  AT  HOME  175 

smile  for  the  compliment.  "  Don't  come  in,  for  she's 
my  worst  specimen.  She's  a  duty,"  and  taking  some 
carnations  and  a  package  of  tea,  she  hurried  away. 

Flowers  and  tea  for  the  old  ladies,  tobacco  and  flow 
ers  for  the  old  men,  and  the  bottle  of  whiskey  for  old 
Ben  Jackson,  to  whom  his  little  nip  every  morning  and 
night  was  a  genuine  charity,  though  one  severe  worker 
left  the  guild  because  Gail  persisted  in  taking  it  to  him. 
At  the  house  they  found  silver-haired  old  Doctor 
Mooreman,  the  rector  of  the  quaintly  beautiful  little 
chapel  up  the  avenue,  and  he  greeted  Gail  with  a  smile 
which  was  a  strange  commingling  of  spiritual  virtue  and 
earthly  shrewdness. 

"Well,  how's  my  little  pagan?  "  he  asked  her,  in  the 
few  minutes  they  had  alone. 

"  Worse  than  ever,  I'm  afraid,"  she  confessed.  "  I 
suppose  you're  asking  about  the  state  of  my  mind  and 
the  degree  of  my  wickedness." 

"  That's  it  exactly,"  agreed  the  Reverend  Doctor, 
smiling  on  her  fondly.  "  Are  you  still  quarrelling  with 
the  Church,  because  it  prefers  to  be  respectable  rather 
than  merely  good?" 

"  I'm  afraid  so,"  she  laughed.  "  I  still  don't  under 
stand  why  Hell  is  preached  when  nobody  believes  it; 
nor  why  we  are  told  the  material  details  of  a  spiritual 
Heaven,  when  no  one  has  proved  its  existence  except 
by  ancient  literature ;  nor  why  an  absolutely  holy  man 
whose  works  are  all  good,  from  end  to  end  of  his  life, 
can't  go  to  Heaven  if  he  doubts  the  divinity  of  the 
Saviour;  nor  why  so  much  immorality  is  encouraged 
in  the  world  by  teaching  that  marriage  itself  is  sinful ; 
nor  why  a  hundred  other  things,  which  are  necessarily 
the  formulas  of  man,  are  made  a  condition  of  the  wor 
ship  of  the  heart.  You  see,  I'm  as  bad  as  ever." 


176  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

The  smile  of  Doctor  Mooreman  was  a  pleasant  sight 
to  behold. 

"  You're  in  no  spiritual  difficulties,"  he  told  her. 
"  You're  only  having  fun  with  your  mind,  and  laying 
tragic  stress  on  the  few  little  innocent  fictions  which 
were  once  well-meant  and  useful." 

Gail  looked  at  him  in  astonishment. 

"  I  never  heard  you  admit  that  much !  "  she  mar 
velled. 

"  You're  approaching  years  of  discretion,"  laughed 
her  old  rector.  "  All  these  things  are  of  small  moment 
compared  with  the  great  fact  that  the  Church  does 
stand  as  a  constant  effort  to  inculcate  the  grace  of 
God.  The  young  are  prone  to  require  roses  without 
a  blemish,  but  even  God  has  never  made  one." 

"  I  don't  understand,"  she  puzzled.  "  You're  not 
combatting  me  on  any  of  these  things  as  you  used  to," 
and  it  actually  worried  her. 

"  Let  me  whisper  something  to  you,"  and  the  Rev 
erend  Doctor  Mooreman,  whose  face  had  the  purity 
which  is  only  visible  in  old  age,  leaned  forward,  with 
his  eyes  snapping.  "  I  don't  believe  a  lot  of  them  my 
self ;  but  Gail,  I  believe  much  in  the  grace  of  God,  and 
I  believe  much  in  its  refining  and  bettering  influence  on 
humanity,  so  to  the  people  who  would  discard  every 
thing  for  the  reason  of  one  little  flaw,  I  teach  things 
I  don't  believe;  and  my  conscience  is  as  clean  as  a 
whistle." 

"  You're  a  darling  old  fraud ! "  Gail's  mind  was 
singularly  relieved.  She  had  worried  how  a  man  of 
Doctor  Mooreman's  intelligence  could  swallow  so  many 
of  the  things  which  were  fed  him  in  his  profession.  The 
conversation  had  done  her  good.  It  tempered  her  atti 
tude  toward  certain  things,  but  it  did  not  change  her 


GAIL  AT  HOME  177 

steadfast  principle  that  the  Church  would  be  better  off 
if  it  did  not  require  the  teachings  of  tenets  and  articles 
of  faith  which  were  an  insult  to  modern  intelligence. 

Had  she  been  unfair  with  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd? 
She  could  not  shake  off  that  thought.  She  must  tell 
him  the  attitude  of  Doctor  Mooreman.  That  is,  if  she 
ever  saw  him  again.  Of  course  she  would,  however. 


SOMETHING    HAPPENS    TO    GERALD    FOSLAND 

THERE  was  something  radically  wrong  with  the 
Fosland  household.  Gerald's  man  had  for  years 
invariably  said:  "  Good  morning,  sir;  I  hope  you  slept 
well,  sir."  This  time  he  merely  said :  "  Good  morn 
ing,  sir  " ;  and  he  forgot  the  salt.  What  was  the  mat 
ter  with  the  house?  With  the  exception  of  William's 
slip,  the  every  morning  programme  was  quite  as  usual. 
Gerald  arose,  had  his  plunge,  his  breakfast,  read  his 
mail  and  his  paper,  went  for  a  canter  in  the  Park,  had 
luncheon  at  the  Papyrus  Club,  and  unless  his  morning 
engagement  slip  had  shown  him  some  social  duty  for  the 
afternoon,  he  did  not  see  Mrs.  Fosland  until  he  came 
down,  from  the  hands  of  William,  dressed  for  dinner. 

One  can  readily  see  that  no  deviation  from  this  rou 
tine  confronted  Gerald  Fosland  this  morning.  He  had 
had  his  plunge  and  his  breakfast,  his  mail  and  his  paper 
laid  before  him,  and  yet  there  was  something  ghastly 
about  the  feel  of  the  house.  It  was  as  if  some  one  were 
dead !  Gerald  Fosland  made  as  radical  a  deviation 
from  his  daily  life  as  William  had  done.  He  left  his 
mail  unopened,  after  a  glance  at  the  postmark;  he  left 
his  paper  unread,  and  he  started  for  his  canter  in  the 
Park  a  full  half  hour  early ! 

He  arrived  at  the  Papyrus  Club  a  full  half  hour 
early,  and  sat  in  the  dimmest  corner  of  the  library, 

178 


SOMETHING  HAPPENS  TO  FOSLAND  179 

taking  himself  seriously  in  hand.  Somehow,  he  was 
not  quite  fit,  not  quite  up  to  himself.  It  seemed  des 
perately  lonely  in  the  Club.  There  were  plenty  of 
fellows  there,  but  they  were  merely  nodders.  They 
were  not  the  ones  who  came  at  his  hour.  He  bright 
ened  a  shade  as  Tompkinson  came  in  five  minutes  early. 
He  was  about  to  wonder  if  all  the  world  had  started 
a  trifle  early  this  morning,  when  he  remembered  that, 
ordinarily  on  his  arrival,  he  found  Tompkinson  there. 
He  could  not  analyse  why  this  should  be  such  a  relief 
to  him,  unless  it  was  that  he  found  mere  normality  com 
forting  to-day. 

"  Good-morning,  Fosland,"  drawled  Tompkinson. 
"  Beautiful  weather." 

"  Yes,"  said  Gerald,  and  they  sat  together  in  voice 
less  satisfaction  until  Connors  came  in. 

"  Good-morning,"  observed  Connors.  "  Beautiful 
weather." 

"  Yes,"  replied  Fosland  and  Tompkinson,  and  Con 
nors  sat. 

"  Depressing  affair  of  Prymm's,"  presently  re 
marked  Tompkinson,  calling  a  boy  for  the  customary 
appetiser. 

"  Rotten,"  agreed  Connors,  with  some  feeling.  All 
his  ancestors  had  been  Irish,  and  it  never  quite  gets  out 
of  the  blood. 

"  I  haven't  heard,"  suggested  Fosland,  with  the  de 
cent  interest  one  club-fellow  should  have  in  another. 

"  Wife  went  to  Italy  with  the  sculptor  who  made  her 
portrait;  Carmelli,  that's  the  name.  Intense  looking 
fellow,  you  know.  Prymm  had  him  here  at  the  club." 

"  You  don't  tell  me."  Gerald  felt  an  unusual  throb 
of  commiseration  for  Prymm.  "  Mighty  decent  chap." 

"  Yes,  Prymm's  all  cut  up  about  it,"  went  on  Tomp- 


180  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

kinson.  "  Has  a  sort  of  notion  he  should  kill  the  fel 
low,  or  something  of  the  kind." 

"  Why  ? "  demanded  Connors,  with  some  feeling 
again.  Connors  was  a  widower,  and  Fosland  suddenly 
remembered,  though  he  could  not  trace  a  connection 
leading  to  the  thought,  that  Connors  had  not  been  a 
frequenter  of  the  club  until  after  the  death  of  his  wife. 
"  Prymm's  a  thoroughly  decent  chap,  but  he  was  so 
wasteful." 

This  being  a  new  word  in  such  connection,  both  Fos 
land  and  Tompkinson  looked  at  Connors  inquiringly. 

"  I  hadn't  noticed."     This  Tompkinson. 

"  Wasteful  of  Mrs.  Pr}Tmm,"  explained  Connors. 
"  She  is  a  beautiful  young  woman,  clever,  charming, 
companionable,  and,  naturally,  fond  of  admiration. 
Prymm  admired  her.  He  frequently  intimated  that  he 
did.  He  admired  his  horse,  and  an  exceptional  Botti 
celli  which  hung  in  his  music-room,  but  his  chief  pleas 
ure  lay  in  their  possession.  He  never  considered  that 
he  should  give  any  particular  pleasure  to  the  Botticelli, 
but  he  did  to  the  horse." 

Gerald  Fosland  was  aware  of  a  particular  feel  of 
discomfort.  Rather  heartless  to  be  discussing  a  fel 
low  member's  intimate  affairs  this  way. 

"  It  is  most  unfortunate,"  he  commented.  "  Shall  we 
go  down  to  lunch  ?  " 

In  the  hall  they  met  Prymm,  a  properly  set  up  fel 
low,  with  neatly  plastered  hair  and  an  air  of  unusually 
perfect  grooming.  He  presented  the  appearance  of 
having  shaved  too  closely  to-day. 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Prymm.  "  Beautiful  weath 
er." 

Inconsiderate  of  Prymm  to  show  up  at  the  club.  A 
trifle  selfish  of  him.  It  put  such  a  strain  on  his  fel- 


SOMETHING  HAPPENS  TO  FOSLAND   181 

low  members.  Of  course,  though,  he  had  most  of  his 
mail  there.  He  only  stopped  for  his  mail,  and  went 
out. 

"  You'll  be  in  for  the  usual  Tuesday  night  whist, 
I  dare  say,"  inquired  Tompkinson  perfunctorily. 

"  Oh  yes,"  remembered  Fosland,  and  was  thoughtful 
for  a  moment.  "  No,  I  don't  think  I  can  come. 
Sorry."  He  felt  the  eye  of  Connors  fixed  on  him  curi 
ously. 

On  Fosland's  book  was  a  tea,  the  date  filled  in  two 
weeks  ago ;  one  of  those  art  things  to  which  men  are 
compelled.  Arly  had  handed  it  to  him,  much  like  a 
bill  for  repairs,  or  a  memorandum  to  secure  steamer 
tickets.  He  drove  home,  and  dressed,  and  when  Wil 
liam  handed  him  his  hat  and  gloves  and  stick  he  laid 
them  on  the  table  beside  him,  in  his  lounging  room,  and 
sat  down,  looking  patiently  out  of  the  window.  He 
glanced  at  his  watch,  by  and  by,  and  resumed  his  in 
spection  of  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  He  stirred 
restlessly,  and  then  he  suddenly  rose,  with  a  little  smile 
at  himself.  He  had  been  waiting  for  word  from  Mrs. 
Fosland,  that  she  was  ready.  For  just  a  few  ab 
stracted  moments  he  had  forgotten  that  he  was  to  pay 
the  social  obligations  of  the  house  of  Fosland  entirely 
alone. 

He  picked  up  his  hat  and  gloves  and  stick,  and 
started  to  leave  the  room.  As  he  passed  the  door  lead 
ing  to  Arly's  apartments,  he  hesitated,  and  put  his 
hand  on  the  knob.  He  glanced  over  his  shoulder,  as 
a  guilty  conscience  made  him  imagine  that  William  was 
coming  in,  then  he  gently  turned  the  knob,  and  entered. 
A  tiny  vestibule,  and  then  a  little  French-grey  salon, 
and  then  the  boudoir,  all  in  delicate  blue,  and  sweet 
with  a  faint,  delicate,  evasive  fragrance  which  was  like 


182  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  passing  of  Arly.  Something  made  him  stand,  for 
a  moment,  with  a  trace  of  feeling  which  came  to  awe, 
and  then  he  turned  and  went  out  of  the  terribly  solemn 
place.  He  did  not  notice,  until  afterwards,  that  he 
had  tiptoed. 

Gerald  Fosland  had  never  been  noted  for  brilliance, 
but  he  was  an  insufferable  bore  at  the  art  tea.  People 
asked  him  the  usual  polite  questions,  and  he  either  for 
got  that  they  were  talking  or  answered  about  something 
else,  and  he  entirely  mislaid  the  fragments  of  art  con 
versation  which  he  was  supposed  to  have  put  on  with 
his  ascot.  Nearly  every  one  asked  about  Arly,  and 
several  with  more  than  perfunctory  courtesy.  He  had 
always  known  that  Arly  was  very  popular,  but  he  had 
a  new  perception,  now,  that  she  was  extremely  well 
liked;  and  it  gratified  him. 

Occupied  with  his  own  reflections,  which  were  not  so 
much  thought  as  a  dull  feeling  that  he  was  about  to 
have  a  thought,  he  nevertheless  felt  that  this  was  a 
rather  agreeable  gathering,  after  all,  until  he  acci 
dentally  joined  a  group  which,  with  keen  fervour,  was 
discussing  the  accident  to  Prymm.  He  had  a  general 
aversion  to  gossip  anyhow,  and  shortly  after  that  he 
went  home. 

He  wrote  some  letters,  and,  when  it  grew  dark,  he 
rang  for  William. 

"  I  shall  remain  in  for  dinner  to-night,"  he  observed, 
and  mechanically  took  up  the  evening  paper  which  the 
quiet  William  laid  before  him.  A  headline  which  made 
his  hand  tremble,  caught  his  eye,  and  he  dropped  the 
paper.  Prymm  had  shot  himself. 

No  tragedy  had  ever  shaken  Gerald  Fosland  so  much 
as  this.  Why,  he  had  met  Prymm  only  that  noon. 
Prymm  had  said :  "  Good  morning,  beautiful  weather." 


SOMETHING  HAPPENS  TO  FOSLAND   183 

For  a  moment  Fosland  almost  changed  his  mind  about 
remaining  in  for  dinner,  but,  after  all,  the  big  panelled 
dining-room,  with  its  dark  wainscoting  and  its  heavily 
carved  furniture  and  its  super-abundant  service,  was 
less  lonely  than  the  club.  The  only  words  which  broke 
the  silence  of  the  dim  dining-room  during  that  dinner, 
were:  "  Sauce,  sir?  " 

Gerald  took  his  coffee  in  his  lounging  room,  and  then 
he  went  again  to  Arly's  door.  He  turned  before  he 
opened  it,  and  tossed  his  cigarette  in  the  fireplace.  He 
did  not  enter  by  stealth  this  time.  He  walked  in.  He 
even  went  on  to  the  dainty  blue  bedroom,  and  looked 
earnestly  about  it,  then  he  went  back  to  the  boudoir  and 
seated  himself  on  the  stiff  chair  in  which  he  had,  on 
rare  occasions,  sat  and  chatted  with  her.  He  remained 
there  perhaps  half  an  hour.  Suddenly  he  arose,  and 
called  for  his  limousine,  and  drove  to  Teasdale's.  They 
were  out,  he  was  told.  They  were  at  Mr.  Sargent's, 
and  he  drove  straight  there.  Somehow,  he  was  glad 
that,  since  they  were  out,  they  had  gone  to  Sargent's. 
He  was  most  anxious  to  see  Lucile. 

"  Just  in  time  to  join  the  mourners,  Gerald,"  greeted 
Ted.  "  We're  doing  a  very  solemn  lot  of  Gailing." 

"  I'll  join  you  with  pleasure,"  agreed  Gerald,  feeling 
more  at  home  and  lighter  of  heart  here  than  he  had 
anywhere  during  the  day.  Lucile  seemed  particularly 
near  to  him.  "  Have  you  any  intimation  that  Gail  ex 
pects  to  return  soon  ?  " 

"  None  at  all,"  stated  Aunt  Helen,  with  a  queer  mix 
ture  of  sombreness  and  impatience.  "  She  only  writes 
about  what  a  busy  time  they  are  having,  and  how  de 
lightfully  eager  her  friends  have  been  about  her,  and 
how  popular  Arly  is,  and  such  things  as  that." 

"  Arly  is  popular  everywhere,"  stated  Gerald,  and 


184  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Lucile  looked  at  him  wonderingly,  turning  her  head 
very  slowly  towards  him. 

"  What  do  you  hear  from  Arly  ?  "  she  inquired,  hold 
ing  up  her  hand  as  if  to  shield  her  eyes  from  the  fire, 
and  studying  him  curiously  from  that  shadow. 

"  Much  the  same,"  he  answered ;  "  except  that  she 
mentions  Gail's  popularity  instead  of  her  own.  She  had 
her  maid  send  her  another  trunkful  of  clothing,  I  be 
lieve,"  and  he  fell  to  gazing  into  the  fireplace. 

"  I  am  very  much  disappointed  in  Arly,"  worried 
Aunt  Helen.  "  I  sent  Arly  specifically  to  bring  Gail 
back  in  a  week,  and  they  have  been  gone  nine  days !  " 

"  I'm  glad  they're  having  a  good  time,"  observed 
Jim  Sargent.  "  She'll  come  back  when  she  gets  ready. 
The  New  York  pull  is  something  which  hits  you  in  the 
middle  of  the  night,  and  makes  you  get  up  and  pack." 

"  Yes,  but  the  season  will  soon  be  over,"  worried 
Aunt  Helen.  "  Gail's  presence  here  at  this  time  is  so 
important  that  I  do  not  see  how  she  can  neglect  it.  It 
may  affect  her  entire  future  life.  A  second  season  is 
never  so  full  of  opportunities  as  the  first  one." 

"  Oh  nonsense,"  laughed  Jim.  "  You're  a  fanatic 
on  match-making,  Helen.  What  you  really  mean  is 
that  Gail  should  make  a  choice  out  of  the  matrimonial 
market  before  it  has  all  been  picked  over." 

"  Jim,"  protested  Mrs.  Sargent,  the  creases  of  worry 
appearing  in  her  brow.  Her  husband  and  sister  had 
never  quarrelled,  but  they  had  permitted  divergences 
of  opinion,  which  had  required  much  mutual  forbear 
ance. 

"  A  spade  is  a  spade,"  returned  Jim.  "  I  think  it's 
silly  to  worry  about  Gail's  matrimonial  prospects. 
Whenever  she's  ready  to  be  married,  she'll  look  them 
all  over,  and  pick  out  the  one  who  suits  her,  All  she'll 


SOMETHING  HAPPENS  TO  FOSLAND  185 

have  to  say  is  *  Eeny-meeny-miny-moe,  you're  it,'  and 
the  fellow  will  rush  right  out  and  be  measured  for  his 
suit." 

"  Just  the  same,  I'd  rather  she'd  be  here  when  she 
counts  out,"  laughed  Lucile. 

"  So  would  I,"  agreed  Jim ;  "  but,  after  all,  there 
are  good  men  everywhere.  Girls  get  married  out  in  the 
middle-west  as  well  as  here,  and  live  happily  ever  after." 

"  They  grow  fine  men  out  there,"  stated  Mrs.  Sar 
gent,  with  a  complimentary  glance  at  her  husband.  She 
had  never  wavered  in  her  opinion  of  that  fine  man. 

"  Right  you  are,"  agreed  Sargent  heartily.  "  They 
have  not  the  polish  of  eastern  men  perhaps,  but  they 
have  a  strength,  and  forcefulness,  and  virility,  which 
carries  them  through.  There  are  men  out  there,  stacks 
of  them,  who  would  appeal  to  any  bright  and  vivacious 
woman,  sweep  her  off  her  feet,  carry  her  away  by  storm, 
and  make  her  forget  a  lot  of  things.  If  any  hand 
some  woman  is  unappreciated  in  New  York,  all  she  has 
to  do  is  to  go  out  to  the  middle-west." 

Lucile,  listening  to  the  innocently  blundering  speech 
of  Gail's  proud  uncle,  watched  Gerald  with  intense  in 
terest.  She  could  scarcely  believe  the  startling  idea 
which  had  popped  into  her  head!  Gerald's  only  ap 
parent  deviation  from  his  normal  attitude  had  consisted 
in  abstractedly  staring  into  the  fire,  instead  of  paying 
polite  attention  to  every  one,  but  that  he  had  heard 
was  evidenced  by  the  shifting  glance  he  gave  Sargent. 
Otherwise  he  had  not  moved. 

"  You  scare  me,"  said  Lucile,  still  watching  Gerald. 
"  I'm  not  going  to  leave  Gail  out  there  any  longer.  I'm 
going  to  have  her  back  at  once." 

Gerald  raised  his  head  immediately,  and  smiled  at 
her. 


186  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Splendid,"  he  approved.  "  Fact  of  the  matter  is," 
and  he  hesitated  an  instant,  "  I'm  becoming  extremely 
lonesome." 

Even  Ted  detected  something  in  Gerald's  tone  and 
in  his  face. 

"  It's  time  you  were  waking  up,"  he  bluntly  com 
mented.  "  I  should  think  you  would  be  lonely  with 
out  Arly." 

"  Yes,  isn't  it  time,"  agreed  Gerald,  studying  the 
matter  carefully.  "  You  know,  both  having  plenty  of 
leisure,  there's  never  been  any  occasion  for  us  to  travel 
separately  before,  and,  really,  I  miss  her  dreadfully." 

"  I  think  I'll  have  to  get  her  for  you,  Gerald,"  prom 
ised  Lucile,  removing  her  hand  from  in  front  of  her 
eyes,  and  smiling  at  him  reassuringly.  She  could  smile 
beautifully  just  now.  The  incredible  thing  she  had 
thought  she  detected  was  positively  true,  and  it  made 
her  excitedly  happy !  Gerald  Fosland  had  been  in  love 
with  his  wife,  and  had  never  known  it  until  now ! 

"  If  you  can  work  that  miracle,  and  bring  Gail  back 
with  her,  you'll  spread  sunshine  all  over  the  place," 
declared  Jim  Sargent.  "  It's  been  like  a  funeral  here 
since  she  went  home.  You'd  think  Gail  was  the  most 
important  section  of  New  York.  Everybody's  blue ; 
Allison,  Doctor  Boyd ;  everybody  who  knew  her  inquires, 
-with  long  faces,  when  she's  coming  back!" 

"  What  do  you  propose  ? "  inquired  Mrs.  Helen 
Davies,  with  a  degree  of  interest  which  intimated  that 
she  was  quite  ready  to  take  any  part  in  the  conspiracy. 

"  I  have  my  little  plan,"  laughed  Lucile.  "  I'm  go 
ing  to  send  her  an  absolutely  irresistible  reminder  of 
New  York!" 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE    MESSAGE    FROM    NEW    YOEK 

IT  was  good  to  be  home!  Gail  wondered  that  she 
could  ever  have  been  content  away  from  the  loving 
shelter  of  her  many,  many  friends.  She  had  grown 
world  weary  in  all  the  false  gaiety  of  New  York!  She 
was  disillusioned!  She  was  blase.  She  was  tired  of 
frivolity ;  and  she  immediately  planned  or  enthusias 
tically  agreed  to  take  part  in  a  series  of  gaieties  which 
would  have  made  an  average  hard-working  man  antici 
pate  them  with  an  already  broken  constitution. 

The  house  was  full  of  them,  morning,  noon  and  night ; 
young  girls,  sedate  and  jolly,  and  all  of  them  excitedly 
glad  that  Gail  was  among  them  again ;  and  young  men, 
in  all  the  degrees  from  social  butterflies  to  plodding 
business  pluggers,  equally  glad. 

Good  comfortable  home  folks  these,  who  were  deli- 
ciously  nice  to  the  stately  black-haired  Arly,  and  voted 
her  a  tremendous  beauty,  and  stood  slightly  in  awe  of 
her.  The  half  cynical  Arly,  viewing  them  critically, 
found  in  them  one  note  of  interesting  novelty ;  a  cer 
tain  general  clean-hearted  wholesomeness,  and,  being 
a  seeker  after  the  unusual,  and  vastly  appreciative,  she 
deliberately  cultivated  them;  flattering  the  boys,  but 
not  so  much  as  to  make  the  other  girls  hate  her.  To 
the  girls  she  made  herself  even  more  attractive,  because 
she  liked  them  better.  She  complimented  them  indi 
vidually  on  the  point  of  perfection  for  which  each  girl 

187 


i88  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

most  prided  herself;  she  told  them  that  they  were 
infinitely  more  clever  than  the  women  of  New  York,  and 
better  looking,  in  general;  for  the  New  York  women 
were  mostly  clothes  and  make-up ;  and,  above  all,  she 
envied  them  their  tinier  lives ! 

No  group  of  young  people  could  resist  such  care 
ful  work  as  that,  especially  when  performed  by  a  young 
woman  so  adroit  and  so  attractive,  and  so  well  gowned ; 
so  they  lost  their  awkwardness  with  her,  which  removed 
any  sense  of  discomfort  Gail  might  have  felt,  which  was 
the  aim  to  be  accomplished.  In  those  first  few  days 
Gail  was  the  happiest  of  all  creatures,  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  local  papers  had  carried  a  politer  echo 
of  that  despicable  slave  story.  At  nights,  however,  be 
ginning  with  the  second  one,  when  the  girls  had  retired 
to  the  mutual  runway  of  their  adjoining  suites,  the  con 
versation  would  turn  something  like  this. 

"  Let's  see,  this  is  the  seventeenth,  isn't  it  ?  "  thus 
Arly. 

"  Yes ;  Tuesday,"  concentratedly  selecting  a  choco 
late,  the  box  of  which  bore  a  New  York  name. 

"  Mrs.  Matson's  ice  skating  ball  is  to-night."  A 
sidelong  glance  at  the  busy  Gail. 

"  Urn-hum."     A   chocolate  between  her  white  teeth. 

"  She  always  has  such  original  affairs." 

"  Doesn't  she !  "  Gail  draws  her  sandalled  feet  up 
under  her  and  stretches  down  her  pink  negligee,  so  that 
she  looks  like  a  stiff  little  statue  in  tinted  ivory. 

"  And  such  interesting  people.  That  new  artist  is 
certain  to  be  there.  What's  his  name?  Oh  yes,  Vlod- 
dow.  I  could  adore  him." 

"  You're  a  mere  verbal  adorer,"  laughs  Gail,  study 
ing  anxiously  over  the  problem  of  whether  she  wants 


THE  MESSAGE  FROM  NEW  YORK    189 

another  piece  of  chocolate  or  not.  Allison  had  sent 
such  good  ones.  "  Vloddow  eats  garlic." 

"  That's  why  I  adore  him,  from  a  distance.  Of 
course  all  the  nice  regular  fellows  will  be  there ;  Dick 
Rodley,  and  Ted,  and  Houston,  and  —  Oh,  oh  1  I 
forgot  to  write  Gerald,"  and  with  a  swift  passing  kiss 
somewhere  between  Gail's  ear  and  her  chin,  she  hur 
ries  into  her  own  dressing  room,  with  a  backward  glance 
to  make  sure  that  Gail  is  staring,  with  softened  brown 
eyes,  down  into  her  chocolate  box,  and  seeing  there 
amid  the  brown  confections,  the  laughing,  swirling  skat 
ers  in  Mrs.  Matson's  glistening  ballroom.  Dick,  and 
Ted,  and  Houston,  and  Willis,  Lucile  and  Marion,  Flo 
Reynolds,  and  the  gay  little  Mrs.  Babbitt,  and  a  host 
of  others.  There  were  some  who  would  not  be  at  that 
ball ;  Allison,  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  and  — 
Arlene  has  plenty  of  time  to  write  her  formally  dutiful 
letter  without  disturbance. 

Gail  has  letters,  too,  as  the  days  wear  on.  She 
scarcely  has  time  for  them  amid  all  the  impromptu 
gaieties,  but  she  does  find  a  chance  to  read  them ;  some 
of  them  twice.  Of  course  there  are  letters  from 
"  home,"  a  prim  and  still  affectionate  one  from  Aunt 
Helen  Davies,  and  a  loving  one,  full  of  worry  about 
Gail's  possible  tonsilitis,  from  Aunt  Grace,  a  hearty 
scrawl  from  Jim,  a  bubbling  little  note  from  Lucile, 
an  absurd  love  letter  from  Ted,  couched  in  terms  of  the 
utmost  endearment,  and  winding  up  with  the  proposi 
tion  to  elope  with  her  if  she'd  only  come  back.  That 
was  the  tenor  of  all  her  letters ;  if  she'd  only  come  back ! 
Bless  their  hearts,  she  loved  them ;  and  yes,  longed  for 
them,  even  here  in  the  happy,  sheltering  environment  of 
her  own  dear  home  and  friends !  There  were  still  other 


190  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

letters;  a  confidently  friendly  one  from  Allison,  who 
sent  her  regularly  candy  and  flowers  on  alternate  days ; 
a  substantial  one  from  Houston  Van  Ploon ;  a  thought 
ful  one  from  Willis  Cunningham;  a  florid  one  from 
Dick  Rodley ;  nice  little  notes,  calculated  to  relieve  her 
embarrassment,  from  all  her  "  slaves  '*  except  the  miss 
ing  Count ;  and  a  discussion  from  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd.  That  was  one  of  those  which  she  read  more 
than  once ;  for  it  was  quite  worth  it. 

"  Dear  Miss  Sargent : 

"  This  being  our  regular  evening  for  discussion,  I 
beg  to  remind  you  that  on  our  last  debate,  I  shall  not 
call  it  a  dispute,  we  had  barely  touched  upon  the  neces 
sity  for  ritual,  or  rather,  to  avoid  any  quibble  over  the 
word  necessity,  on  my  insistence  for  the  need  of  a  rit 
ual,  when  we  decided  that  it  was  better  to  sing  for  the 
balance  of  the  evening.  I  was  the  more  ready  to  ac 
quiesce  in  this,  as  we  had,  for  the  first  time,  hit  upon 
a  theorem  to  which  we  could  both  subscribe;  namely, 
that  it  is  just  as  easy  for  the  human  mind  to  grasp 
the  biblical  theory  of  creation  as  to  grasp  the  creation 
of  the  life-producing  chaos  out  of  which  evolution  must 
have  proceeded." 

Gail  laid  down  the  letter  at  this  point  and  smiled, 
with  dancing  eyes.  She  could  see  the  stern  face  of  the 
young  rector  brightening  with  pleasure  as  she  had  her 
self  propounded  this  thought,  and  she  could  revisualise 
his  grave  pleasure  as  he  had  clothed  it  in  accurate 
words  for  them  both.  It  was,  as  he  had  said,  an  ex 
tremely  solid  starting  point,  to  which  they  could  always 
return. 


THE  MESSAGE  FROM  NEW  YORK     191 

"  That  this  belief  is  sufficient,  even  including  a  con 
tinuance  of  the  omnipresent  personal  regard  which  we 
both  admit  to  assume  in  that  Creator,  I  deny.  I  can 
see  your  cheeks  flush  and  your  brown  eyes  sparkle  as 
you  come  to  this  flat  statement;  and  I  am  willing  to 
answer  for  you  that  you  object  to  my  making  so  far- 
sweeping  a  statement,  in  the  very  beginning  of  what  was 
to  have  been  a  slowly  deductive  process.  You  may  not 
be  wording  it  in  just  this  manner,  but  this  is,  in  effect, 
what  you  are  saying. 

"  With  much  patience,  I  reply  that  you  have  not 
waited  for  me  to  finish,  which,  I  must  observe,  in  jus 
tice  to  myself,  you  seldom  do. 

"  Kindly  wait  just  a  minute,  please.  You  have 
thrown  back  your  head,  your  brown  hair  tossing,  your 
pointed  chin  uptilted,  and  a  little  red  spot  beginning 
to  appear  in  your  delicately  tinted  cheeks,  but  I  hasten 
to  remind  you  that,  if  we  take  up  this  little  side  mat 
ter  of  my  unfortunate  mention  of  one  of  your  youthful 
proclivities,  we  shall  forget  entirely  the  topic  under 
discussion.  I  apologise  for  having  been  so  rude  as 
to  remind  you  of  it,  and  beg  to  state  that  when  I  pause 
at  a  comma,  you  had  heard  but  half  a  statement. 

"  At  this  point  you  remark  that  no  discussion  should 
be  based  upon  a  half  statement,  and  I  admit,  with 
shame,  that  I  am  slightly  indignant,  for  you  have  not 
yet  permitted  me  to  finish  my  original  proposition. 
Now  you  are  sitting  back,  with  your  slender  white  hands 
folded  in  your  lap,  and  the  toe  of  one  of  your  little 
pointed  slippers  waving  gently,  your  curved  lashes 
drooping,  and  your  eyes  carelessly  fixed  on  Tiy  cravat, 
which  I  can  not  see,  but  which  I  believe  to  have  been 
tied  with  as  much  care  as  a  gentleman  should  expend 
upon  his  attire. 


192  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Miss  Sargent,  you  leave  me  helpless.  I  feel  a  chill 
sensation  in  my  cheeks,  as  if  a  cold  draught  had  blown 
upon  them.  You  are  firmly  resolved  to  let  me  talk  with 
out  interruption  for  the  next  half  hour,  upon  which 
you  will  give  me  a  most  adroit  answer  to  everything  I 
have  said.  Your  answer  will  have  all  the  effect  of  re 
futing  my  entire  line  of  logic,  without  having  given 
me  an  opportunity  to  defend  the  individual  steps. 

"  I  decline,  with  much  patience,  very  much  patience 
indeed,  to  lay  myself  open  to  this  conclusion,  not  be 
cause  of  the  undeserved  sense  of  defeat  it  will  force  upon 
me,  but  because  the  matter  at  issue  is  too  grave  and 
important  to  be  given  a  prejudiced  dismissal. 

"  I  can  see  you  now,  as  I  refuse  to  carry  the  sub 
ject  further  at  this  session.  You  stiffen  in  your  chair, 
your  eyes,  which  have  seemed  so  carelessly  indifferent, 
suddenly  glow,  and  snap,  and  sparkle,  and  flash.  The 
tiny  red  spots  have  deepened,  enhancing  the  velvet  of 
your  cheeks.  Your  red  lips  curl.  You  impatiently 
touch  back  the  waves  of  your  rippling  brown  hair  with 
your  slender  white  hand,  which  turns  so  gracefully  upon 
its  wrist.  You  blaze  straight  into  my  eyes,  and  tell 
me  that  I  have  taken  this  means  of  avoiding  the  dis 
cussion,  because  I  perceive  in  advance  that  I  am 
beaten. 

"  Miss  Sargent,  I  do  not  tell  you  that  you  are  unfair 
and  ungenerous  to  seize  upon  this  advantage;  instead, 
I  bite  my  lip,  and  compel  my  countenance  to  befitting 
gravity,  knowing  that  I  should  be  above  the  petty  emo 
tions  of  anger,  impatience,  and  offended  pride;  but 
humbly  confessing,  to  myself,  that  I  have  not  my  na 
ture  under  such  perfect  subjection  as  I  should  like  to 
have. 

"  Consequently,  I  beg  you  to  defer  this  step  in  our 


THE  MESSAGE  FROM  NEW  YORK     193 

logical  deduction  to  another  night,  and  turn,  with  grate 
ful  relief,  to  the  music.     I  need  not  say  how  heartily  I 
wish  that  you  were  here  to  sing  with  me. 
"  Yours  earnestly, 

"  SMITH  BOYD." 

Gail  shrieked  when  she  first  read  that  letter,  then 
she  read  it  again  and  blushed.  She  had,  as  she  came 
upon  his  initial  flat  statement  of  denial,  felt  a  flush  in 
her  cheeks  and  a  snap  in  her  eyes.  She  had,  as  she 
read,  stiffened  with  indignation,  and  relaxed  in  scorn 
ful  disdain,  and  flashed  with  hot  retort,  in  advance  of 
his  discernment  that  she  would  do  so !  She  was  flam- 
ingly  vexed  with  him !  On  the  third  reading  her  eyes 
twinkled,  and  her  red  lips  curved  deliciously  with  hu 
mour,  as  she  admired  the  cleverness  which  she  had  previ 
ously  only  recognised.  In  subsequent  readings  this 
was  her  continued  attitude,  and  she  kept  the  letter  some 
where  in  the  neighbourhood  where  she  might  touch  it 
occasionally,  because  of  the  keen  mental  appreciation 
she  had  for  it.  Were  her  eyes  really  capable  of  such  an 
infinite  variety  of  expression  as  he  had  suggested  ?  She 
looked  in  the  glass  to  see ;  but  was  disappointed.  They 
were  merely  large,  and  brown,  and  deep,  and,  just  now, 
rather  softened. 

There  was  an  impromptu  party  at  Gail's  house,  a 
jolly  affair,  indeed.  All  her  old,  steadfast  friends,  you 
know,  who  were  quite  sufficient  to  fill  her  life ;  and  this 
was  the  night  of  the  gay  little  Mrs.  Babbitt's  affair  in 
New  York.  How  much  better  than  those  great,  glitter 
ing,  social  pageants  was  a  simple,  wholesome  little  ball 
like  this,  with  all  her  dear  girl  chums,  in  their  pretty 
little  Paris  model  frocks,  and  all  the  boys,  in  their  shiny 
white  fronts,  No  one  had  changed,  not  even  impulsive 


194  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Howard  Clemmens.  Poor  Howard!  He  knew  now 
that  his  refusal  was  permanent  and  enduring,  yet  he 
came  right  to  the  front  with  his  same  assumption  of 
proprietorship.  She  let  him  do  it.  You  see,  in  all 
these  years,  the  boys  had  tacitly  admitted  that  Howard 
"  had  the  inside  track  " ;  so,  while  they  all  admired  and 
loved  her,  they  stepped  aside  and  permitted  him  to 
monopolise  her.  Back  home  there  was  a  sort  of  esprit 
de  corps  like  that,  though  it  was  sometimes  hard  on 
the  girl.  When  Gail  had  flown  home  from  the  cruel 
world  to  the  sheltering  arms  of  her  mother  and  her 
friends,  she  had  firmly  planned  to  set  Howard  in  his 
proper  place  as  a  formal  friend,  and  thereafter  be  free. 
There  were  quite  a  number  of  the  boys  who  had,  at  one 
time  or  another,  seemed  quite  worth  cultivation.  When 
she  came  to  meet  them  again,  however,  with  that  same 
old  brotherly  love  shining  in  their  eyes,  she  somehow 
found  that  she  did  not  care  to  be  free.  Anyhow,  it 
would  humiliate  Howard  to  reduce  him  so  publicly  to 
the  ranks,  snip  off  his  buttons  and  take  his  sabre,  as 
it  were;  so  she  allowed  him  to  clank  his  spurs,  to  the 
joy  and  delight  of  Arly. 

This  was  the  gayest  party  of  which  Gail  had  been 
the  bright  particular  ornament  since  her  return,  and 
she  quite  felt,  except  for  the  presence  of  Arly,  that  she 
had  fallen  back  into  her  old  familiar  life.  Why,  it 
seemed  as  if  she  had  been  home  for  ages  and  ages! 
There  was  the  same  old  dance  music,  the  Knippel  or 
chestra,  with  the  wonderfully  gifted  fat  violinist,  and 
the  pallid  pianist  with  the  long  hair,  who  had  four  chil 
dren,  and  the  'cellist  who  scowled  so  dreadfully  but 
played  the  deep  passages  so  superbly,  and  clarionetist, 
whom  every  one  thought  should  have  gone  in  for  con 
cert  work,  and  the  grey-haired  old  basso  player,  who 


THE  MESSAGE  FROM  NEW  YORK    195 

never  looked  up  and  who  never  moved  a  muscle  except 
those  in  his  arms,  one  up  and  down  and  the  other  cross 
wise  ;  there  was  a  new  second  violinist,  a  black-browed 
man  who  looked  as  if  he  had  been  disappointed  in  life, 
but  second  violinists  always  do. 

At  the  end  of  the  Sargent  ballroom,  where  Gail's  se 
date  but  hospitable  mother  always  sat  until  the  "  Home, 
Sweet  Home  "  dance  was  ended,  were  the  same  dear, 
familiar  palms,  which  Marty,  the  florist,  always  sent  to 
everybody's  house  to  augment  the  home  collection.  The 
gorgeous  big  one  had  a  leaf  gone,  but  it  was  sprouting 
two  others. 

Tremendously  gay  affair.  Everybody  was  de 
lighted,  and  said  so;  and  they  laughed  and  danced  and 
strolled  and  ate  ices,  and  said  jolly  nothings,  and  knew, 
justifiably,  that  they  were  nice,  and  clever,  and  happy 
young  people ;  and  Arly  Fosland,  with  any  number  of 
young  men  wondering  how  old  her  husband  was,  danced 
conscientiously,  and  smiled  immediately  when  any  one 
looked  at  her.  Gail  also  was  dancing  conscientiously, 
and  having  a  perfectly  happy  evening.  At  about  this 
hour  there  would  be  something  near  four  hundred  peo 
ple  in  the  ballroom,  and  the  drawing-rooms,  and  the 
conservatory  of  Mrs.  Babbitt's. 

She  was  whirling  near  the  balcony  windows  with  a 
tall  young  friend  who  breathed,  when  there  was  an 
exclamation  from  a  group  of  girls  at  the  window. 
Vivian  Jennings  turned.  She  was  a  girl  with  the  sort 
of  eyes  which,  in  one  sweep,  can  find  the  only  four- 
leafed  clover  in  a  forty-acre  field. 

"  Gail !  "  she  cried,  almost  dancing.  "  Gail !  Do 
come  and  see  it !  " 

Gail  did  not  desert  her  partner;  she  merely  started 
over  to  the  window  with  one  hand  trailing  behind  her 


196  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

as  an  indication  to  follow,  and  immediately,  without 
looking  around,  she  called: 

"Arly!     Where's  Arly?" 

What  she  saw  was  this.  A  rich  brown  limousine,  in 
which  the  dome  light  was  brightly  burning,  had  drawn 
up  to  the  steps.  Inside,  among  the  rich  brown  cush 
ions  and  hangings,  and  pausing  to  light  a  leisurely  ciga 
rette,  sat  the  most  wickedly  handsome  man  in  the  world ! 
He  was  black-haired,  and  black-moustached  and  black- 
goateed,  and  had  large,  lustrous,  melting  black  eyes, 
while  on  his  oval  cheeks  was  the  ruddy  bloom  of  health. 
Every  girl  in  the  window  sighed,  as,  with  a  movement 
which  was  grace  in  every  changing  line,  he  stepped  out 
of  the  brilliantly  lighted  limousine,  and  came  slowly  up 
the  steps,  tall,  slender,  magnificent,  in  his  shining  silk 
hat  and  his  flowing  Inverness,  and  his  white  tie,  and  his 
pleated  shirt  front  —  Oh,  everything;  correct  to  the 
last  detail,  except  for  the  trifling  touches  of  original 
ity,  down  to  his  patent  leather  tips !  With  a  wave  of 
careless  ease  he  flung  back  his  Inverness  over  one 
shoulder,  and  rang  the  bell! 

"  Dick!  "  cried  a  voice  just  behind  Gail's  ear.  Gail 
had  not  known  that  any  one  was  leaning  heavily  on 
her  shoulders,  but  now  she  and  Arly,  with  one  accord, 
turned  and  raced  for  the  vestibule! 

"  You  handsome  thing ! "  cried  Arly,  as  he  stepped 
into  the  hall  and  held  out  a  hand  to  each  of  them.  "  I've 
a  notion  to  kiss  you !  " 

"  All  right,"  he  beamed  down  on  her,  sparing  an 
other  beam  for  Gail.  No,  Gail  had  not  exaggerated  in 
memory  the  magic  of  his  melting  eyes.  It  could  not 
be  exaggerated ! 

"  There  aren't  any  words  to  tell  you  how  welcome 


THE  MESSAGE  FROM  NEW  YORK     197 

you  are !  "  said  Gail,  as  the  butler  disappeared  with  his 
hat  and  Inverness. 

"  What  on  earth  brought  you  here  to  bless  us  ?  " 
demanded  Arly. 

"  I  came  to  propose  to  Gail,"  announced  Dick 
calmly,  and  took  her  hand  again,  bending  down  on  her 
that  wonderfully  magnetic  gaze,  so  that  she  was  panic- 
stricken  in  the  idea  that  he  was  about  to  proceed  with 
his  project  right  on  the  spot. 

"  Wait  until  after  the  dance,"  she  laughingly  re 
quested,  drawing  back  a  step  and  blushing  furiously. 

"  We're  wasting  time,"  protested  Arly.  "  Hurry  on 
in,  Dick.  We  want  to  exhibit  you." 

"  I  don't  mind,"  consented  Dick  cheerfully,  and 
stepped  through  the  doorway,  where  he  created  the 
gasp. 

Eleven  girls  dreamed  of  his  melting  eyes  that  night ; 
and  Howard  Clemmens  lost  his  monopoly.  Viewing 
Gail's  victorious  scramble  with  Arly  for  Dick's  exclu 
sive  possession,  Howard's  friends  unanimously  reduced 
him  to  the  ranks. 

After  the  dance,  Dick  made  good  his  threat  with  Gail, 
and  formally  proposed,  urging  his  enterprise  in  com 
ing  after  her  as  one  of  his  claims  to  consideration ;  but 
Gail,  laughing,  and  liking  him  tremendously,  told  him 
he  was  too  handsome  to  be  married,  and  sent  him  back 
home  with  a  fresh  gardenia  in  his  buttonhole.  That 
night  Arly  and  Gail  sat  long  and  silently  on  the  com 
fortable  couch  in  front  of  Arly's  fireplace,  one  in  fluffy 
blue  and  the  other  in  fluffy  pink,  and  the  one  in  fluffy 
blue  furtively  studying  the  one  in  fluffy  pink  from  un 
der  her  black  eyelashes.  The  one  in  pink  was  gazing 
into  the  fire  with  far-seeing  brown  eyes,  and  was  braid- 


198  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ing  and  unbraiding,  with  slender  white  fingers,  a  flow 
ing  strand  of  her  brown  hair. 

"  Gail,"  ventured  the  one  in  blue. 

"Yes."     This  abstractedly. 

"Aren't  you  a  little  bit  homesick?     I  am." 

"  So  am  I !  "  answered  Gail,  with  sudden  animation. 

"  Let's  go  back  !  "  excitedly. 

"  When?  "  and  Gail  jumped  up. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE    RECTOR    KNOWS 

THE  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  came  down  to  break 
fast  with  a  more  or  less  hollow  look  in  his  face,  and 
his  mother,  inspecting  him  keenly,  poured  his  coffee 
immediately.  There  was  the  trace  of  a  twinkle  in  her 
eyes,  which  were  nevertheless  extremely  solicitous. 

"  How  is  your  head?  "  she  inquired. 

"  All  right,  thank  you."     This  listlessly. 

"  Are  you  sure  it  doesn't  ache  at  all  ?  " 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  dutifully  withdrew  his 
mind  from  elsewhere,  to  consider  that  proposition  justly. 

"  I  think  not,"  he  decided,  and  he  fell  into  exactly 
such  a  state  of  melancholy,  trifling  with  his  grape  fruit, 
as  Mrs.  Boyd  wished  to  test.  She  focussed  her  keen 
eyes  on  him  microscopically. 

"  Miss  Sargent  is  coming  back  to-night ;  on  the  six- 
ten  train." 

There  was  a  clatter  in  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's 
service  plate.  He  had  been  awkward  with  his  spoon, 
and  dropped  it.  He  made  to  pick  it  up,  but  reached 
two  inches  the  other  side  of  the  handle.  Mrs.  Boyd 
could  have  laughed  aloud  for  sheer  joy.  She  made  up 
her  mind  to  do  some  energetic  missionary  work  with 
Gail  Sargent  at  the  first  opportunity.  The  foolish  no 
tions  Gail  had  about  the  church  should  be  removed. 
Mrs.  Boyd  had  long  ago  studied  this  matter  of  reli 
gion,  with  a  clear  mind  and  an  honest  heart.  It  was 

199 


200  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

a 'matter  of  faith,  and  she  had  it;  so  why  be  miserable! 
Her  reverie  was  broken  by  the  calm  and  mellow  voice 
of  her  son. 

"  That  is  delightful  news,"  he  returned  with  a  frank 
enthusiasm  which  was  depressing  to  his  mother. 

"  I  think  I  shall  have  the  Sargcnts  over  to  dinner," 
she  went  on,  persisting  in  her  hope. 

"  That  will  be  pleasant."  Frank  again,  carefree, 
aglow  with  neighbourly  friendliness ;  even  affection ! 

Mrs.  Boyd  had  nothing  more  to  say.  She  watched 
her  son  Tod  start  vigorously  at  his  grape  fruit,  with 
a  vivacity  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  he  might  finish 
with  the  rind.  He  drew  his  eggs  energetically  toward 
him,  buttered  a  slice  of  toast,  and  finished  his  breakfast. 
Suddenly  he  looked  at  his  watch. 

"  I  have  an  extremely  busy  day  before  me,"  he  told 
her  briskly.  "  I  have  Vedder  Court  this  morning,  some 
calls  in  the  afternoon,  and  a  mission  meeting  at  four- 
thirty.  I  might  probably  be  late  for  dinner,"  and  feel 
ing  to  see  if  he  had  supplied  himself  with  handkerchiefs, 
he  kissed  his  mother,  and  was  gone  without  another 
word  about  Gail!  She  could  have  shaken  him  in  her 
disappointment.  What  was  the  matter  with  Tod? 

The  Reverend  Smith  B*oyd  sang  as  he  went  out  of 
the  door,  not  a  tune  or  any  set  musical  form,  but  a 
mere  unconscious  testing  of  his  voice.  It  was  quite 
unusual  for  him  to  sing  on  the  way  to  Vedder  Court, 
for  he  devoted  his  time  to  this  portion  of  his  duties 
because  he  was  a  Christian.  He  had  sympathy,  more 
than  enough,  and  he  both  understood  and  pitied  the 
people  of  Vedder  Court,  but,  in  spite  of  all  his  intense 
interest  in  the  deplorable  condition  of  humanity's  weak 
and  helpless,  he  was  compelled  to  confess  to  himself 
that  he  loathed  dirt. 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  201 

Vedder  Court  was  particularly  perfect  in  its  specialty 
this  morning.  The  oily  black  sediment  on  its  pav«- 
ments  was  streaked  with  iridescence,  and  grime  seemed 
to  be  shedding  from  every  point  of  the  drunken  old 
buildings,  as  if  they  hajd  lain  inebriated  in  a  soaking 
rain  all  night,  and  had  just  staggered  up,  to  drip. 
They  even  seemed  to  leer  down  at  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  as  if  his  being  the  only  clean  thing  in  the  street 
were  an  impertinence,  which  they  would  soon  rectify. 
It  had  been  comparatively  dry  in  the  brighter  streets 
of  New  York,  but  here,  in  Vedder  Court,  there  was  per 
petual  moisture,  which  seemed  to  cling,  and  to  stick, 
and  to  fasten  its  unwholesome  scum  permanently  on 
everything.  Never  had  the  tangle  of  smudge-coated 
children  seemed  so  squalid;  never  had  the  slatternly 
women  seemed  so  unfeminine;  never  had  the  spineless 
looking  men  seemed  so  shuffling  and  furtive  and  sod 
den  ;  never  had  the  whole  of  the  human  fungi  in  Ved 
der  Courfe  seemed  so  unnecessary,  and  useless,  and,  the 
rector  discovered  in  himself  with  startled  contrition,  so 
thoroughly  not  worth  saving,  body  or  soul ! 

A  half  intoxicated  woman,  her  front  teeth  missing 
and  her  colourless  hair  straggling,  and  her  cheekbones 
gleaming  with  the  high  red  of  debauchery,  leered  up  at 
him  as  he  passed,  as  if  in  all  her  miserable  being  there 
could  be  one  shred,  or  atom,  to  invite  or  attract.  A 
curly-headed  youngster,  who  would  have  been  angel 
ically  beautiful  if  he  had  been  washed  and  his  native 
blood  pumped  from  him,  threw  mud  at  the  Reverend 
Smith  Boyd,  out  of  a  mere  artistic  desire  to  reduce  him 
to  harmony  with  his  surroundings.  A  mouthing  old 
woman,  with  hands  clawed  like  a  parrot's,  begged  him 
for  alms,  and  he  was  ashamed  of  himself  that  he  gave 
it  to  her  with  such  shrinking.  The  master  could  not 


202  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

have  been  like  this.  A  burly  "  pan  handler  "  stopped 
him  with  an  artificial  whine.  A  cripple,  displaying  his 
ugly  deformity  for  the  benefit  and  example  of  the  un 
born,  took  from  him  a  dole  and  a  wince  of  repul 
sion. 

"  The  poor  ye  have  always  with  ye !  "  For  ages  that 
had  been  the  excuse  for  such  offences  as  Vedder  Court. 
They  were  here,  they  must  be  cared  for  within  their 
means,  and  no  amount  of  pauperising  charity  could 
remove  them  from  the  scheme  of  things.  In  so  far, 
Market  Square  Church  felt  justified  in  its  landlord- 
ship,  that  it  nursled  squalor  and  bred  more.  Yet, 
somehow,  the  rector  of  that  solidly  respectable  insti 
tution  was  not  quite  satisfied,  and  he  had  added  a  new 
expense  to  the  profit  and  loss  account  in  the  ledger  of 
this  particular  House  of  God.  He  had  hired  a  crew 
of  forty  muscular  men,  with  horses  and  carts,  and  had 
caused  them  to  be  deputised  as  sanitary  police,  and 
had  given  them  authority  to  enter  and  clean;  which 
may  have  accounted  for  the  especially  germ  laden  feel 
of  the  atmosphere  this  morning.  Down  in  the  next 
block,  where  the  squad  was  systematically  at  work,  there 
were  the  sounds  of  countless  individual  battles,  and  loud 
mouthings  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  anarchy. 
A  government  which  would  force  soap  and  deodorisers 
and  germicides  on  presumably  free  and  independent  cit 
izens,  was  a  government  of  tyranny;  and  it  had  been 
a  particular  wisdom,  on  the  part  of  the  rough-hewn 
faced  man  who  had  hired  this  crew,  to  select  none  but 
accomplished  brick  dodgers.  In  the  ten  carts  which 
lined  the  curb  on  both  sides,  there  were  piled  such  a 
conglomerate  mass  of  nondescript  fragments  of  every 
thing  undesirable  that  the  rector  felt  a  trace  better,  as 
if  he  had  erased  one  mark  at  least  of  the  long  black 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  203 

score  against  himself.  Somehow,  recently,  he  had  ac 
quired  an  urgent  impulse  to  clean  Vedder  Court! 

He  turned  in  at  one  of  the  darkest  and  most  unin 
viting  of  the  rickety  stairways.  He  skipped,  with  a 
practised  tread,  the  broken  third  step,  and  made  a  men 
tal  note  to  once  more  take  up,  with  the  property  com 
mittee,  the  battle  of  minor  repairs.  He  stopped  at  the 
third  landing,  and  knocked  at  a  dark  door,  whereupon 
a  petulant  voice  told  him  to  come  in.  The  petulant 
voice  came  from  a  woman  who  sat  in  a  broken  rockered 
chair,  with  one  leg  held  stiffly  in  front  of  her.  She  was 
heavy  with  the  fat  which  rolls  and  bulges,  and  an  empty 
beer  pail,  on  which  the  froth  had  dried,  sat  by  her  side. 
On  the  rickety  bed  lay  a  man  propped  on  one  elbow, 
who  had  been  unshaven  for  days,  so  that  his  sandy 
beard  made  a  sort  of  layer  on  his  square  face.  The 
man  sat  up  at  once.  He  was  a  trifle  under-sized,  but 
broad-shouldered  and  short-necked,  and  had  enormous 
red  hands. 

"  How  are  you  to-day,  Mrs.  Rogers  ?  "  asked  the  rec 
tor,  sitting  on  a  backless  and  bottomless  chair,  with 
his  hat  on  his  knees,  and  holding  himself  small,  with 
an  unconscious  instinct  to  not  let  anything  touch  him. 

"  No  better,"  replied  the  woman,  making  her  voice 
weak.  "  I'll  never  know  a  well  day  again.  The  good 
Lord  has  seen  fit  to  afflict  me.  I  ain't  saying  any 
thing,  but  it  ain't  fair." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  could  not  resist  a  slight 
contraction  of  his  brows.  Mrs.  Rogers  invariably  in 
troduced  the  Lord  into  every  conversation  with  the  rec 
tor,  and  it  was  his  duty  to  wrestle  with  her  soul,  if  she 
insisted.  He  was  not  averse  to  imparting  religious  in 
struction,  but,  being  a  practical  man,  he  could  not  en 
joy  wasting  his  breath. 


204  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  There  are  many  things  we  can  not  understand," 
he  granted.  "  What  does  the  doctor  say  about  your 
condition?  " 

"  He  don't  offer  no  hope,"  returned  the  woman,  with 
gratification.  "This  knee  joint  will  be  stiff  till  the 
end  of  my  days.  If  I  had  anything  to  blame  myself 
with  it  would  be  different,  but  I  ain't.  I  say  my 
prayers  every  night,  but  if  I'm  too  sick,  I  do  it  in  the 
morning." 

"  Can  that  stuff ! "  growled  the  man  on  the  bed. 
"  You  been  prayin'  once  a  day  ever  since  I  got  you, 
and  nothin's  ever  happened." 

"  I've  brought  you  a  job,"  returned  the  Reverend 
Smith  Boyd  promptly.  "  I  have  still  ten  places  to  fill 
on  the  sanitary  squad  which  is  cleaning  up  Vedder 
Court." 

The  man  on  the  bed  sat  perfectly  still. 

"  How  long  will  it  last  ?  "  he  growled. 

"  Two  weeks." 

"What's  the  pay?" 

"  A  dollar  and  a  half  a  day." 

The  man  shook  his  head. 

"  I  can't  do  it,"  he  regretted.  "  I  don't  say  any 
thing  about  the  pay,  but  I'm  a  stationary  engineer." 
He  was  interested  enough  in  his  course  of  solid  reason 
ing  to  lay  a  stubby  finger  in  his  soiled  palm.  "  If  I 
take  this  two  weeks'  job,  it'll  stop  me  from  lookin'  for 
work,  and  I  might  miss  a  permanent  situation." 

The  rector  suppressed  certain  entirely  human  in 
stincts. 

"  You  have  not  had  employment  for  six  months,"  he 
reminded  Mr.  Rogers. 

"  That's  the  reason  I  can't  take  a  chance,"  was  the 
triumphant  response.  "  If  I'd  miss  a  job  through 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  205 

takin'  this  cheap  little  thing  you  offer  me,  I'd  never  for 
give  myself ;  and  you'd  have  it  on  your  conscience,  too." 

"  Then  you  won't  accept  it,"  and  the  rector  rose, 
with  extremely  cold  eyes. 

"  I'd  like  to  accommodate  you,  but  I  can't  afford 
it,"  and  the  man  remained  perfectly  still,  an  art  which 
he  had  brought  to  great  perfection.  "  All  we  need 
is  the  loan  of  a  little  money  while  I'm  huntin'  work." 

"  I  can't  give  it  to  you,"  announced  the  Reverend 
Smith  Boyd  firmly.  "  I've  offered  you  an  opportunity 
to  earn  money,  and  you  won't  accept  it.  That  ends 
my  responsibility." 

"  You'd  better  take  it,  Frank,"  advised  the  woman, 
losing  a  little  of  the  weakness  of  her  voice. 

"  You  'tend  to  your  own  business ! "  advised  Mr. 
Rogers  in  return.  "  You're  supposed  to  run  the  house, 
and  I'm  supposed  to  earn  the  living!  Reverend  Boyd, 
if  you'll  lend  me  two  dollars  till  a  week  from  Satur- 
day—" 

"  I  told  you  no,"  and  the  rector  started  to  leave  the 
room. 

There  was  a  knock  at  the  door.  A  thick-armed  man 
with  a  short,  wide  face  walked  in,  a  pail  in  one  hand 
and  a  scrubbing  brush  in  the  other.  On  the  back  of 
his  head  was  pushed  a  bright  blue  cap,  with  "  Sanitary 
Police  "  on  it,  in  tarnished  braid.  Mr.  Rogers  stood  up. 

"What  do  you  want?  "  he  quite  naturally  inquired. 

"  Clean  up,"  replied  the  sanitary  policeman,  setting 
down  his  pail  and  ducking  his  head  at  the  rector,  then 
mopping  his  brow  with  a  bent  forefinger,  while  he  picked 
out  a  place  to  begin. 

"  Nothin'  doing ! "  announced  Mr.  Rogers,  aflame 
with  the  dignity  of  an  outraged  householder.  '*  Good 
night  !  "  and  he  advanced  a  warning  step. 


206  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

The  wide  set  sanitary  policeman  paused  in  his  sur 
vey  long  enough  to  wag  a  thick  forefinger  at  the  out 
raged  householder. 

"  Don't  start  anything,"  he  advised.  "  There's  some 
tough  mugs  in  this  block,  but  you  go  down  to  the  places 
I've  been,  and  you'll  find  that  they're  all  clean." 

With  these  few  simple  remarks,  he  turned  his  back 
indifferently  to  Mr.  Rogers,  and,  catching  hold  of  the 
carpet  in  the  corner  with  his  fingers,  he  lifted  it  up  by 
the  roots. 

"  There's  no  use  buckin'  the  government,"  Mr. 
Rogers  decided,  after  a  critical  study  of  the  sanitary 
policeman's  back,  which  was  extremely  impressive. 
"  It's  a  government  of  the  rich  for  the  rich.  Has  a 
poor  man  got  any  show?  I'm  a  capable  stationary  en 
gineer.  All  I  ask  is  a  chance  to  work  —  at  my  trade." 
This  by  an  afterthought.  "  If  you'll  give  me  two  dol 
lars  to  tide  me  over  — 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  stepped  out  of  the  way 
of  the  sanitary  policeman,  and  then  stepped  out  of  the 
door. 

"  And  you  call  yourself  a  minister  of  the  gospel !  " 
Mr.  Rogers  yelled  after  him. 

That  was  a  sample  of  the  morning's  work,  and  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  felt  more  and  more,  as  he  neared 
luncheon  time,  that  he  merited  some  consideration,  if 
only  for  the  weight  of  the  cross  he  bore.  There  were 
worse  incidents  than  the  abuse  of  men  like  Rogers ; 
there  were  the  hideous  sick  to  see,  and  the  genuinely 
distressed  to  comfort,  and  depthless  misery  to  relieve; 
and  any  day  in  Vedder  Court  was  a  terrific  drain,  both 
upon  his  sympathies  and  his  personal  pocket. 

He  felt  that  this  was  an  exceptionally  long  day. 

Home  in  a  hurry  at  twelve-thirty.     A  scrub,  a  com- 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  207 

plete  change  of  everything,  and  a  general  feeling  that 
he  should  have  been  sterilised  and  baked  as  well. 
Luncheon  with  the  mother  who  saw  what  a  long  day 
this  was,  then  a  far  different  type  of  calls ;  in  a  sedate 
black  car  this  time,  up  along  the  avenue,  and  in  and 
out  of  the  clean  side  streets,  where  there  was  little  dan 
ger  of  having  a  tire  punctured  by  a  wanton  knife,  as 
so  often  happened  in  Vedder  Court.  He  called  on  old 
Mrs.  Henning,  who  read  her  Bible  every  day  to  find 
knotty  passages  for  him  to  expound;  he  called  on  the 
Misses  Crasley,  who  were  not  thin  but  bony,  who  sat 
frozenly  erect  with  their  feet  neatly  together  and  their 
hands  in  their  laps,  and  discussed  foreign  missions  with 
greedy  relish ;  he  spent  a  half  hour  with  plump  Mrs. 
Rutherford,  who  shamelessly  hinted  that  a  rector 
should  be  married,  and  who  was  the  worried  possessor 
of  three  plump  daughters,  who  did  not  seem  to  move 
well  from  the  shelves ;  he  listened  to  the  disloyal  con 
fessions  of  Mrs.  Sayers,  who  at  heart  liked  her  husband 
because  he  provided  her  so  many  faults  to  brood  upon ; 
he  made  brief  visits  with  three  successive  parishioners 
who  were  sweet,  good  women  with  a  normally  balanced 
sense  of  duty,  and  with  two  successive  parishioners  who 
looked  on  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  as  a  respectable  so 
cial  circle,  which  should  be  patronised  like  a  sewing 
girls'  club  or  any  other  worthy  institution. 

Away  to  Vedder  Court  again,  dismissing  his  car  at 
the  door  of  Temple  Mission,  and  walking  inside,  out 
of  range  of  the  leers  of  those  senile  old  buildings,  but 
not  out  of  the  range  of  the  peculiar  spirit  of  Vedder 
Court,  which  manifested  itself  most  clearly  to  the  ole- 
factory  sense. 

The  organ  was  playing  when  he  entered,  and  the 
benches  were  half  filled  by  battered  old  human  rem- 


2o8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

nants,  who  pretended  conversion  in  order  to  pick  up 
the  crumbs  which  fell  from  the  table  of  Market  Square 
Church.  Chiding  himself  for  weariness  of  the  spirit,  and 
comforting  himself  with  the  thought  that  one  greater 
than  he  had  faltered  on  the  Avay  to  Golgotha  he  sat 
on  the  little  platform,  with  a  hymn  book  in  his  hand, 
and,  when  the  prelude  was  finished,  he  devoted  his  won 
derful  voice  to  the  blasphemy. 

The  organist,  a  volunteer,  a  little  old  man  who  kept 
a  shoemaker's  shop  around  the  corner,  and  who  played 
sincerely  in  the  name  of  helpfulness,  was  pure  of  heart. 

The  man  with  the  rough  hewn  countenance,  unfortu 
nately  not  here  to-day,  was  also  sincere  in  an  entirely 
unspiritual  sort  of  way ;  but,  with  these  exceptions,  and 
himself,  of  course,  the  rector  knew  positively  that  there 
was  not  another  uncalloused  creature  in  the  room,  not 
one  who  could  be  reached  by  argument,  sympathy,  or 
fear !  They  were  past  redemption,  every  last  man  and 
woman ;  and,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  hymn,  he  rose 
to  cast  his  pearls  before  swine,  without  heart  and  with 
out  interest ;  for  no  man  is  interested  in  anything  which 
can  not  possibly  be  accomplished. 

With  a  feeling  of  mockery,  yet  upheld  by  the  thought 
that  he  was  holding  out  the  way  and  the  light,  not  only 
seven  times  but  seventy  times  seven  times,  to  whatever 
shred  or  crumb  of  divinity  might  lie  unsuspected  in 
these  sterile  breasts,  he  strove  earnestly  to  arouse  en 
thusiasm  in  himself  so  that  he  might  stir  these  dead 
ghosts,  even  in  some  minute  and  remote  degree. 

Suddenly  a  harsh  and  raucous  voice  interrupted  him. 
It  was  the  voice  of  Mr.  Rogers,  and  that  gentleman, 
who  had  apparently  secured  somewhere  the  two  dollars 
to  tide  him  over,  was  now  embarked  on  the  tide.  He 
had  taken  just  enough  drinks  to  make  him  ugly,  if  that 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  209 

process  were  possible,  and  he  had  developed  a  particu 
larly  strong  resentment  of  the  latest  injustice  which 
had  been  perpetrated  on  him.  That  injustice  consisted 
of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  refusal  to  lend  him  money 
till  a  week  from  next  Saturday  night ;  and  he  had  come 
to  expose  the  rector's  shallow  hypocrisy.  This  he  pro 
ceeded  to  do,  in  language  quite  unsuited  to  the  chapel 
of  Temple  Mission  and  to  the  ears  of  the  ladies  then 
present;  most  of  whom  grinned. 

The  proceedings  which  followed  were  but  brief.  The 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  requested  the  intruder  to  stop. 
The  intruder  had  rights,  and  he  stood  on  them !  The 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  ordered  him  to  stop ;  but  the  in 
truder  had  a  free  and  independent  spirit,  which  for 
bade  him  to  accept  orders  from  any  man !  The  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  in  the  interests  of  the  discipline 
without  which  the  dignity  and  effectivenes  of  the  cause 
could  not  be  upheld,  and  pleased  that  this  was  so,  or 
dered  him  out  of  the  room.  Mr.  Rogers,  with  a  flood 
of  abuse  which  displayed  some  versatility,  invited  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  to  put  him  out;  and  the  Rever 
end  Smith  Boyd  did  so.  It  was  not  much  of  a  strug 
gle,  though  Mr.  Rogers  tore  two  benches  loose  on  his 
way,  and,  at  the  narrow  door  through  which  it  is  dif 
ficult  to  thrust  even  a  weak  man,  because  there*  are  so 
many  arms  and  legs  attached  to  the  human  torso,  he 
offered  so  much  resistance  that  the  reverend  doctor 
was  compelled  to  practically  pitch  him,  headlong,  across 
the  sidewalk,  and  over  the  curb,  and  into  the  gutter ! 
The  victim  of  injustice  arose  slowly,  and  turned  to  come 
back,  but  he  paused  to  take  a  good  look  at  the  stalwart 
young  perpetrator,  and  remembered  that  he  was  thirsty. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  found  himself  standing 
in  the  middle  of  the  sidewalk,  with  his  fists  clenched 


210  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

and  his  blood  surging.  The  atmosphere  before  his  eyes 
seemed  to  be  warm,  as  if  it  were  reddened  slightly.  He 
was  tingling  from  head  to  foot  with  a  passion  which 
he  had  repressed,  and  throttled,  and  smothered  since 
the  days  of  his  boyhood!  He  had  striven,  with  a 
strength  which  was  the  secret  of  his  compelling  voice, 
to  drive  out  of  him  all  earthly  dross,  to  found  himself 
on  the  great  example  which  was  without  the  cravings 
of  the  body ;  he  had  sought  to  make  himself  spiritual ; 
but,  all  at  once,  this  conflict  had  roused  in  him  a  raging 
something,  which  swept  up  from  the  very  soles  of  his 
feet  to  his  twirling  brain,  and  called  him  man ! 

For  a  quivering  moment  he  stood  there,  alive  with 
all  the  virility  which  was  the  richer  because  of  his  long 
repression.  He  knew  many  things  now,  many  things 
which  ripened  him  in  an  instant,  and  gave  him  the  heart 
to  touch,  and  the  mind  to  understand,  and  the  soul  to 
flame.  He  knew  himself,  he  knew  life,  he  knew,  yes, 
and  that  was  the  wonderful  miracle  of  the  flood  which 
poured  in  on  him,  he  knew  love! 

He  reached  suddenly  for  his  watch.  Six-ten.  He 
could  make  it!  Still  impelled  by  this  new  creature 
which  had  sprung  up  in  him,  he  started;  but  at  the 
curb  he  stopped.  He  had  been  in  such  a  whirl  of  emo 
tion  that  he  had  not  realised  the  absence  of  his  hat.  He 
strode  into  the  mission  door,  and  the  rays  of  the  de 
clining  sun,  struggling  dimly  through  the  dingy  glass, 
fell  on  the  scattered  little  assemblage  —  as  if  it  had 
been  sent  to  touch  them  in  mercy  and  compassion  — 
on  the  weak,  and  the  poor,  and  the  piteously  crippled 
of  soul ;  and  a  great  wave  of  shame  came  to  him ;  shame, 
and  thankfulness,  too ! 

He  walked  slowly  up  to  the  platform,  and,  turning 
to  that  reddened  sunlight  which  bathed  his  upturned 


THE  RECTOR  KNOWS  211 

face  as  if  with  a  benediction,  he  said,  in  a  voice  which, 
in  its  new  sweetness  of  vibration,  stirred  even  the  murky 
depths  of  these,  the  numb: 
"  Let  us  pray." 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE    BREED    OF    GAIL 

WHO  was  that  tall,  severely  correct  gentleman 
waiting  at  the  station,  with  a  bunch  of  violets 
in  his  hand,  and  the  light  in  his  countenance  which  was 
never  on  sea  or  land?  It  was  Gerald  Fosland,  and  he 
astonished  all  beholders  by  his  extraordinary  conduct. 
As  the  beautiful  Arly  stepped  through  the  gates,  he 
advanced  with  an  entirely  tmrepressed  smile,  springing 
from  the  ball  of  his  feet  with  a  buoyancy  too  active 
to  be  quite  in  good  form.  He  took  Arly's  hand  in  his, 
but  he  did  not  bend  over  it  with  his  customary  courte 
ous  gallantry.  Instead,  he  drew  her  slightly  towards 
him,  with  a  firm  and  deliberate  movement,  and,  bending 
his  head  sidewise  under  the  brim  of  her  hat,  kissed  her; 
kissed  her  on  the  lips ! 

Immediately  thereafter  he  gave  a  dignified  welcome  to 
Gail,  and  with  Arly's  arm  clutched  tightly  in  his  own, 
he  then  disappeared.  As  they  walked  rapidly  away, 
Arly  looked  up  at  him  in  bewilderment;  then  she  sud 
denly  hugged  herself  closer  to  him  with  a  jerk.  As 
they  went  out  through  the  carriage  entrance,  she 
skipped. 

It  was  good  to  see  Allison,  big,  strong,  forceful,  typ 
ical  of  the  city  and  its  mighty  deeds.  His  eye  had 
lighted  with  something  more  than  pleasure  as  Gail 
stepped  out  through  the  gates  of  the  station;  some 
thing  so  infinitely  more  than  pleasure  that  her  eyes 

212 


THE  BREED  OF  GAIL  213 

dropped,  and  her  hand  trembled  as  she  felt  that  same 
old  warm  thrill  of  his  clasp.  He  was  so  overwhelming 
in  his  physical  dominance.  He  took  immediate  posses 
sion  of  her,  standing  by  while  she  greeted  her  uncle  and 
aunt  and  other  friends,  and  beaming  with  justifiably 
proud  proprietorship.  Gail  had  laughed  as  she  rec 
ognised  that  attitude,  and  she  found  it  magnificent  after 
the  pretentions  of  Howard  Clemmens.  The  difference 
was  that  Allison  was  really  a  big  man,  one  born  to  com 
mand,  to  sway  things,  to  move  and  shift  and  re-arrange 
great  forces;  and  that,  of  course,  was  his  manner  in 
everything.  She  flushed  each  time  she  looked  in  his 
direction;  for  he  never  removed  his  gaze  from  her; 
bold,  confident,  supreme.  When  a  man  like  that  is 
kind  and  gentle  and  considerate,  when  he  is  tender  and 
thoughtful  and  full  of  devotion,  he  is  a  big  man  in 
deed! 

She  let  him  put  her  hand  on  his  arm,  and  felt 
restful,  after  the  greetings  had  been  exchanged,  as  he 
led  her  out  to  the  big  touring  car,  asking  her  all  sorts 
of  eager  questions  about  how  she  found  her  home  and 
her  friends,  and  if  the  journey  had  fatigued  her,  and 
telling  her,  over  and  over,  how  good  she  looked,  how 
bright  and  how  clear-eyed  and  how  fresh-cheeked,  and 
how  charming  in  her  grey  travelling  costume.  She  felt 
the  thrill  again  as  he  took  her  hand  in  his  to  help  her 
into  the  car,  and  she  loved  the  masterful  manner  in 
which  he  cleared  a  way  to  their  machine  through  the 
crowded  traffic.  In  the  same  masterful  air,  he  gently 
but  firmly  changed  her  from  the  little  folding  seat  to 
the  big  soft  cushions  in  the  rear,  beside  her  Aunt 
Grace. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  at  the  steps  of  the 
Sargent  house  to  greet  her,  and  her  heart  leaped  as  she 


214  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

recognised  another  of  the  dear  familiar  faces.  This 
was  her  world,  after  all ;  not  that  world  of  her  child 
hood.  How  different  the  rector  looked;  or  was  it  that 
she  had  needed  to  go  away  in  order  to  judge  her 
friends  anew?  His  eyes  were  different;  deeper,  steadier 
and  more  penetrating  into  her  own ;  and,  yes,  bolder. 
She  was  forced  to  look  away  from  them  for  a  moment. 
There  seemed  a  warm  eagerness  in  his  greeting,  as  if 
everything  in  him  were  drawing  her  to  him.  It  was 
indescribable,  that  change  in  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd, 
but  it  was  not  unexplainable ;  and,  after  he  had  swung 
back  home,  with  the  earnest  promise  to  come  over  after 
dinner,  she  suddenly  blushed  furiously,  without  any 
cause,  while  she  was  talking  of  nothing  more  intense 
than  the  excellent  physical  condition  of  Flakes. 

Gay  little  Mrs.  Babbitt  brought  her  husband,  while 
the  family  group  was  still  jabbering  over  its  coffee, 
and  after  them  came  the  deluge ;  Dick  Rodley  and  the 
cherub-cheeked  Marion  Kenneth,  and  Willis  Cunning 
ham,  and  a  host  of  others,  including  the  Van  Ploons, 
father,  son,  and  solemn  daughter.  The  callow  youth 
who  had  danced  with  her  three  times  was  there,  with  a 
gardenia  all  out  of  proportion  to  him,  and  he  sat  in 
the  middle  of  the  Louis  XIV  salon,  where  he  was  exces 
sively  in  everybody's  road,  and  could  feast  on  Gail, 
for  the  most  of  the  evening,  in  numb  admiration;  for 
his  point  of  vantage  commanded  a  view  into  the  library 
and  all  the  parlours. 

With  a  rapidity  which  was  a  marvel  to  all  her  girl 
friends,  Gail  had  slipped  upstairs  and  into  a  creamy 
lace  evening  frock  without  having  been  missed ;  and 
she  was  in  this  acutely  harmonious  setting  when  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  called,  with  his  beautiful  mother 
on  his  arm.  The  beautiful  mother  was  in  an  excep- 


THE  BREED  OF  GAIL  215 

tional  flurry  of  delight  to  see  Gail,  and  kissed  that 
charming  young  lady  with  clinging  warmth.  The  rec 
tor's  eyes  were  even  more  strikingly  changed  than  they 
had  been  when  he  had  first  met  her  on  the  steps,  as  they 
looked  on  Gail  in  her  creamy  lace,  and  after  she  had 
read  that  new  intense  look  in  his  eyes  for  the  second 
time  that  evening,  she  hurried  away,  with  the  license  of 
a  busy  hostess,  and  cooled  her  face  at  an  open  window 
in  the  side  vestibule.  There  was  a  new  note  in  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  voice;  not  a  greater  depth  nor 
mellowness  nor  sweetness,  but  a  something  else.  What 
was  it?  It  was  a  call,  that  was  it;  a  call  across  the 
gulf  of  futurity. 

They  came  after  her.  Ted  and  Lucile  had  arrived. 
She  was  in  a  vortex.  Dick  Rodley  hemmed  her  in  a 
corner,  and  proposed  to  her  again,  just  for  practice, 
within  eye-shot  of  a  dozen  people,  and  he  did  it  so  that 
onlookers  might  think  that  he  was  complimenting  her 
on  her  clever  coiffure  or  discussing  a  new  operetta ;  but 
he  made  her  blush,  which  was  the  intention  in  the  depths 
of  his  black  eyes.  It  seemed  that  she  was  in  a  per 
petual  blush  to-night,  and  something  within  her  seemed 
to  be  surging  and  halting  and  wavering  and  quivering! 
Her  Aunt  Helen  Davies,  rather  early  in  the  evening, 
began  to  act  stiff  and  formal. 

"  Go  home,"  she  murmured  to  Lucile.  "  All  this  ex 
citement  is  bad  for  Gail's  beauty." 

She  felt  free  to  give  the  same  advice  to  the  gay  little 
Mrs.  Babbitt,  and  the  departure  of  four  people  was 
sufficient  to  remind  the  stiff  Van  Ploon  daughter  of  the 
conventions.  She  removed  the  elder  Van  Ploon's  eyes 
from  Gail,  and  gathered  up  Houston,  who  was  energet 
ically  talking  horse  with  Allison.  After  that  the  exodus 
became  general,  until  only  the  callow  youth  and  Alii- 


216  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

son  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  remained.  The  lat 
ter  young  gentleman  had  taken  his  flatteringly  happy 
mother  home  early  in  the  evening,  and  he  had  resorted 
to  dulness  with  such  of  the  thinning  guests  as  had 
seemed  disposed  to  linger. 

It  was  Aunt  Helen  who,  by  some  magic  of  adroitness, 
sent  the  callow  youth  on  his  way.  He  was  worth  any 
amount  of  money  to  which  one  cared  to  add  ciphers, 
and  his  family  was  flawless  except  for  him ;  but  Aunt 
Helen  had  decisively  cut  him  off  her  books,  because  he 
was  so  well  fitted  to  be  the  last  of  his  line.  She  thought 
she  had  better  go  upstairs  after  that,  and  she  glanced 
into  the  music  room  as  she  passed,  and  knitted  her  brows 
at  the  tableau.  The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  who 
seemed  unusually  fine  looking  to-night,  stood  leaning 
against  the  piano,  wratching  Gail  with  an  almost  in 
cendiary  gaze.  That  young  lady,  steadily  resisting  an 
impulse  to  feel  her  cheek  with  the  back  of  her  hand,  sat 
on  the  end  of  the  piano  bench  furthest  removed  from 
the  rector,  and  directed  the  most  of  her  attention  to 
Allison,  who  was  less  disconcerting.  Allison,  casting 
an  occasional  glance  at  the  intense  young  rector,  seemed 
preoccupied  to-night ;  and  Mrs.  Helen  Davies,  pausing 
to  take  her  sister  Grace  with  her,  walked  up  the  stairs 
with  a  forefinger  tapping  at  her  well-shaped  chin.  She 
seemed  to  have  reversed  places  with  her  sister  to-night ; 
for  Mrs.  Sargent  was  supremely  happy,  while  Helen 
Davies  was  doing  the  family  worrying. 

She  could  have  bid  Allison  adieu  had  she  waited  a 
very  few  minutes.  He  was  a  man  who  had  spent  a  life 
time  in  linking  two  and  two  together,  and  lie  abided 
unwaveringly  by  his  deductions.  There  was  no  mis 
taking  the  nature  of  the  change  which  was  so  apparent 
in  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd ;  but  Allison,  after  care- 


THE  BREED  OF  GAIL  217 

ful  thought  on  the  matter,  was  able  to  take  a  compara 
tively  early  departure. 

"  I'll  see  you  to-morrow,  Gail,"  he  observed  finally. 
Rising,  he  crossed  to  where  she  sat,  and,  reaching  into 
her  lap,  he  took  both  her  hands.  He  let  her  arms 
swing  from  his  clasp,  and,  looking  down  into  her  eyes 
with  smiling  regard,  he  gave  her  hands  an  extra  pres 
sure,  which  sent,  for  the  hundredth  time  that  night, 
a  surge  of  colour  over  her  face. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  blazing  down  at  that 
scene,  suddenly  felt  something  crushing  under  his  hand. 
It  was  the  light  runner  board  of  the  music  rack,  and 
three  hairs,  which  had  lain  in  placid  place  at  the  crown 
of  his  head,  suddenly  popped  erect.  Ten  thousand 
years  before  had  these  three  been  so  grouped,  Allison 
would  have  felt  a  stone  axe  on  the  back  of  his  neck, 
but  as  it  was  he  passed  out  unmolested,  nodding  care 
lessly  to  the  young  rector,  and  bestowing  on  Gail  a 
parting  look  which  was  the  perfection  of  easy  assur 
ance. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  wasted  not  a  minute  in 
purposeless  hesitation  or  idle  preliminary  conversation. 

"  Gail !  "  he  said,  in  a  voice  which  chimed  of  all  the 
love  songs  ever  written,  which  vibrated  with  all  the  love 
passion  ever  breathed,  which  pleaded  with  the  love  ap 
peal  of  all  the  dominant  forces  since  creation.  Gail 
had  resumed  her  seat  on  the  end  of  the  piano  bench,  and 
now  he  reached  down  and  took  her  hand,  and  held  it, 
unresisting.  She  was  weak  and  limp,  and  she  averted 
her  eyes  from  the  burning  gaze  which  beamed  down  on 
her.  Her  breath  was  fluttering,  and  the  hand  which 
lay  in  her  lap  was  cold  and  trembling.  "  Gail,  I  love 
you ! "  He  bent  his  head  and  kissed  her  hand.  The 
touch  was  fire,  and  she  felt  her  blood  leap  to  it.  "  Gail 


218  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

dear,"  and  his  voice  was  like  the  suppressed  crescendo 
of  a  tremendous  organ  flute ;  "  I  come  to  you  with  the 
love  of  a  man.  I  come  to  you  with  the  love  of  one 
inspired  to  do  great  deeds,  not  just  to  lay  them  at  your 
feet,  but  because  you  are  in  the  world !  "  He  bent 
lower,  and  tried  to  gaze  into  the  brown  eyes  under  those 
fluttering  lashes.  He  held  her  hand  more  tightly  to 
him,  clasped  it  to  his  breast,  oppressed  her  with  the 
tremendous  desire  of  his  whole  being  to  draw  her  to 
him,  and  hold  her  close,  as  one  and  a  part  of  him  for 
all  time  to  come,  mingling  and  merging  them  into  one 
ecstatic  harmony.  "Gail!  Oh,  Gail,  Gail!" 

There  was  a  cry  in  that  repetition  of  her  name,  al 
most  an  anguish.  She  stole  an  upward  glance  at  him, 
her  face  pale,  her  beautiful  lips  half  parted,  and  in  her 
depthless  brown  eyes,  alive  now  with  a  new  light  which 
had  been  born  within  her,  there  was  no  forbiddance, 
though  she  dropped  them  hastily,  and  bent  her  head 
still  lower.  She  had  made  herself  an  eternal  part  of 
him  just  then,  had  he  but  seized  upon  that  unspoken 
assent,  and  taken  her  in  his  arms,  and  breathed  to  her 
of  the  love  of  man  for  woman,  the  love  that  never  dies 
nor  wavers  nor  falters,  so  long  as  the  human  race  shall 
endure. 

He  bent  still  closer  to  her,  so  that  he  all  but  enfolded 
her.  His  warm  breath  was  upon  her  cheek.  The  sym 
pathy  which  was  between  them  bridged  the  narrow 
chasm  of  air,  and  enveloped  them  in  an  ethereal  flame 
which  coursed  them  from  head  to  foot,  and  had  already 
nigh  welded  them  into  one. 

*'  I  need  you,  Gail !  "  he  told  her.  "  I  need  you  to 
be  my  wife,  my  sweetheart,  my  companion.  I  need 
you  to  go  with  me  through  life,  to  walk  hand  in  hand 
with  me  about  the  greatest  work  in  the  world,  the  re- 


THE  BREED  OF  GAIL  219 

demption  of  the  fallen  and  helpless,  into  whose  lives  we 
may  shed  some  of  the  beauty  which  blossoms  in  our 
own." 

There  was  a  low  cry  from  Gail,  a  cry  which  was  half 
a  sob,  which  came  with  a  sharp  intake  of  the  breath,  and 
carried  with  it  pain  and  sorrow  and  protest.  She  had 
been  so  happy,  in  what  she  fancied  to  be  the  near  ful 
filment  of  the  promptings  which  had  grown  so  strong 
within  her.  No  surge  of  emotion  like  this  had  ever 
swept  over  her;  no  such  wave  of  yearning  had  ever 
carried  her  impetuously  up  and  out  of  herself  as  this 
had  done.  It  had  been  the  ecstatic  answer  to  all  her 
dreams,  the  ripe  and  rich  and  perfect  completion  of 
every  longing  within  her;  yet,  in  the  very  midst  of  it 
had  come  a  word  which  broke  the  magic  thrall;  a 
thought  which  had  torn  the  fairy  web  like  a  rude  storm 
from  out  the  icy  north;  a  devouring  genii  which,  dark 
and  frightening,  advanced  to  destroy  all  the  happiness 
which  might  follow  this  first  inrushing  commingling  of 
these  two  perfectly  correlated  elements ! 

"  I  can't !  "  she  breathed,  but  she  did  not  withdraw 
her  hand  from  his  clasp.  She  could  not!  It  was  as 
if  those  two  palms  had  welded  together,  and  had  be 
come  parts  of  one  and  the  same  organism. 

There  was  an  instant  of  silence,  in  which  she  slowly 
gathered  her  swirling  senses,  and  in  which  he  sat, 
shocked,  stunned,  disbelieving  his  own  ears.  Why,  he 
had  known,  as  positively,  and  more  positively,  than  if 
she  had  told  him,  that  there  was  a  perfect  response  in 
her  to  the  great  desire  which  throbbed  within  him.  It 
had  come  to  him  from  her  like  the  wavering  of  soft 
music,  music  which  had  blended  with  his  own  pulsing 
diapason  in  a  melody  so  subtle  that  it  drowned  the 
senses  to  languorous  swooning;  it  had  come  to  him  with 


220  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  delicate  far-off  pervasiveness  of  the  birth  of  a  new 
star  in  the  heavens ;  it  had  come  to  him  as  a  fragrance, 
as  a  radiance,  as  the  beautiful  tints  of  spring  blos 
soms,  as  something  infinitely  stronger,  and  deeper,  and 
sweeter,  than  the  sleep  of  death.  That  tremendous  and 
perfect  fitness  and  accord  with  him  he  felt  in  her  hand 
even  now. 

"  I  can't,  Tod,"  she  said  again,  and  neither  one  no 
ticed  that  she  had  unconsciously  used  the  name  she  had 
heard  from  his  mother,  and  which  she  had  unconsciously 
linked  with  her  thoughts  of  him.  "  There  could  never 
be  a  unity  of  purpose  in  us,"  and  now,  for  the  first  time, 
she  gently  withdrew  her  hand.  "  I  could  never  be  in 
sympathy  with  your  work,  nor  you  with  my  views. 
Have  you  noticed  that  we  have  never  held  a  serious  dis 
pute  over  any  topic  but  one?  " 

He  drew  a  chair  before  her,  and  took  her  hand  again, 
but  this  time  he  patted  it  between  his  own  as  if  it  were 
a  child's. 

"  Gail,  dear,  that  is  an  obstacle  which  will  melt  away. 
There  was  a  time  when  I  felt  as  you  do.  The  time  will 
come  when  you,  too,  will  change." 

"  You  don't  understand,"  she  gently  told  him.  "  I 
believe  in  God  the  Creator ;  the  Maker  of  my  conscience ; 
my  Friend  and  my  Father.  I  am  in  no  doubt,  no 
quandary,  no  struggle  between  faith  and  disbelief.  I  see 
my  way  clearly,  and  there  are  no  thorns  to  cut  for  me. 
I  shall  never  change." 

He  looked  at  her  searchingly  for  a  moment,  and  then 
his  face  grew  grave ;  but  there  was  no  coldness  in  it,  nor 
any  alteration  in  the  blueness  of  his  eyes. 

*'  I  shall  pray  for  you,"  he  said,  with  simple  faith. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

THE    PUBLIC    IS    AROUSED 

CLAD  in  her  filmy  cream  lace  gown,  Gail  walked 
slowly  into  her  boudoir,  and  closed  the  door,  and 
sank  upon  her  divan.  She  did  not  stop  to-night  to  let 
down  her  hair  and  change  to  her  dainty  negligee,  nor 
to  punctiliously  straighten  the  room,  nor  to  turn  on 
the  beautiful  green  light;  instead,  with  all  the  electric 
bulbs  blazing,  she  sat  with  her  chin  in  her  hand,  and, 
with  her  body  perfectly  in  repose,  tried  to  study  the 
whirl  of  her  mind. 

She  was  shaken,  she  knew  that,  shaken  and  stirred  as 
she  had  never  been  before.  Something  in  the  depths 
of  her  had  leaped  up  into  life,  and  cried  out  in  agony, 
and  would  not  stop  crying  until  it  was  satisfied. 

The  hardest  part  of  the  whirl  from  which  to  untangle 
herself  was  the  tremendous  overwhelming  attraction 
there  had  been  between  them.  The  red  wave  of  con 
sciousness  rose  up  over  her  neck  and  crimsoned  her 
cheeks  and  flushed  her  very  brow,  as  the  nearness  of 
him  came  back  to  her.  Again  she  could  feel  that  mar 
vellous  welding  of  their  palms,  the  tingle  of  her  shoulder 
where  he  had  accidentally  brushed  against  it ;  the  music 
of  his  voice,  which  had  set  up  that  ecstatic  answering 
vibration  within  her.  She  felt  again  his  warm  breath 
upon  her  cheek,  the  magnetic  thrill  of  his  arms  as  he 
enfolded  her,  the  breathless  joy  which  had  ensued  when 

221 


222  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

he  had  drawn  her  to  his  breast,  and  held  and  held  and 
held  her  there,  as  an  indivisible  part  of  him,  forever 
and  forever.  The  burning  pressure  of  his  lips  upon 
hers !  That  breathless,  intolerable  ecstasy  when  he  had 
folded  her  closer,  and  still  closer!  A  sense  of  shame 
flooded  her  that  she  had  yielded  so  much,  that  she  had 
been  so  helpless  in  the  might  and  the  strength  and  the 
sweep  — 

She  raised  her  head  with  a  jerk,  and  rubbed  her 
hands  over  her  eyes.  Why  there  had  been  no  such 
episode !  He  had  not  folded  her  in  his  arms,  nor  drawn 
her  to  him,  nor  kissed  her  lips ;  though  her  breath  was 
fluttering  and  her  wrists  burning  in  the  bare  memory  of 
it;  he  had  only  drawn  quite  near  to  her,  and  held  her 
hand ;  and  once  he  had  kissed  it !  How  then  had  she 
reproduced  all  these  sensations  so  vividly?  Then  in 
deed,  shame  came  to  her,  as  she  realised  how  much  more 
completely  than  he  could  know,  she  had,  in  one  breath 
less  instant,  given  herself  to  him ! 

It  was  that  shame  which  came  to  her  rescue,  which 
set  her  upon  her  defence,  which  started  her  to  the  seek 
ing  for  her  justification.  She  had  refused  him,  even 
at  the  very  height  of  her  most  intense  yielding.  And 
why  ?  She  must  go  deeper  into  the  detail  of  that.  She 
had  to  grope  her  way  slowly  and  painfully  back  through 
the  quivering  maze  of  her  senses,  to  recall  the  point  at 
which  she  had  been  taken  rudely  from  the  present  into 
the  future. 

"  I  need  you  to  walk  hand  in  hand  with  me  about  the 
greatest  work  in  the  world !  "  That  was  it ;  the  great 
est  work  in  the  world!  And  what  was  that  work?  To 
live  and  teach  ritual  in  place  of  religion ;  to  turn  wor 
ship  into  a  social  observance;  to  use  helpless  belief  as 
a  ladder  of  ambition ;  to  reduce  faith  to  words,  and 


THE  PUBLIC  IS  AROUSED         223 

hope  to  a  recitation,  and  charity  to  an  obligation ;  to 
make  pomp  and  ceremony  a  substitute  for  conscience, 
and  to  interpose  a  secretary  between  the  human  heart 
and  God! 

For  just  an  instant  Gail's  eyelids  dropped,  her  long 
brown  lashes  curved  upon  her  cheeks,  while  beneath 
them  her  eyes  glinted,  and  a  smile  touched  the  corners 
of  her  lips ;  then  she  was  serious  again.  No,  she  had 
decided  wisely.  They  could  not  spend  a  lifetime  in  the 
ecstasy  of  touch.  Between  those  rare  moments  of  the 
rapture  of  love  must  come  stern  hours  of  waking. 
Then  she  must  live  a  constant  lie,  she  must  battle  down 
her  own  ideals  and  her  own  thoughts  and  her  own  wor 
ship  and  subscribe  to  a  dead  shell  of  pretence,  which 
she  had  come  to  hold  in  contempt  and  even  loathing. 
She  must  appear  constantly  before  the  world  as  sub 
scribing  to  and  upholding  a  sham  which  had  been 
formulated  as  thoroughly  as  the  multiplication  table; 
and  to  do  all  these  things  she  would  be  compelled  to 
throttle  her  own  dear  Deity,  with  whom  she  had  been 
friends  since  her  babyhood,  to  whom  she  could  go  at 
any  hour  with  pure  faith  and  simple  confidence;  al 
ways  in  love  and  never  in  fear! 

Yes,  she  had  chosen  wisely.  Through  all  the  years 
to  come  there  would  be  clash  upon  clash,  until  they 
would  grow  so  far  apart  spiritually  that  no  human 
yearning,  no  matter  how  long  nor  how  strong,  could 
bridge  the  chasm.  She  was  humiliated  to  be  compelled 
to  confess  to  herself  that  the  tremendous  fire  which  had 
consumed  them,  that  the  tremendous  attraction  which 
had  drawn  them  together,  that  the  tremendous  ecstasy 
which  had  enveloped  them,  was  by  no  means  of  the 
soul  or  the  spirit  or  the  mind.  And  yet,  how  potent 
that  attraction  had  been,  how  it  left  her  still  quivering 


224  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

with  longing.  Did  she  despise  that  tendency  in  herself? 
Something  within  her  answered  defiantly  "  No!"  Still 
defiantly,  she  exulted  in  it ;  for  many  instincts  which 
the  Creator  has  planted  in  humanity  have  been  made 
sinful  by  teaching  alone.  Moreover,  a  further  search 
brought  a  deserved  approbation  to  the  rescue  of  her 
self-respect.  Mighty  as  had  been  the  call  upon  her 
from  without  and  from  within,  she  had  resisted  it,  and 
driven  it  back,  and  leashed  it  firmly  with  the  greater 
strength  of  her  faith !  She  gloried  that  she  had  not 
been  weak  in  this  stormy  test,  and  her  eyes  softened 
with  a  smile  of  gratitude.  Poor  Tod ! 

There  was  a  knock  on  the  door,  and  Gail  smiled 
again  as  she  said: 

"  Come  in." 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  entered,  tall  and  stately  in  her 
boudoir  frills  and  ruffles.  She  gazed  searchingly  at 
Gail's  now  calm  face,  with  its  delicately  tinted  oval 
cheeks  and  its  curved  red  lips  and  its  brown  eyes,  into 
which  a  measure  of  peace  had  come.  The  face  did  not 
tell  her  as  much  as  she  had  expected  to  find  in  it,  but  the 
fact  that  Gail  had  so  far  deviated  from  her  unbreakable 
habit  of  piling  into  a  negligee  and  putting  every  minute 
trace  of  disorder  to  rights  before  she  did  anything  else, 
was  sufficient  indication  that  something  unusual  had  oc 
curred.  Aunt  Helen  sat  down  in  front  of  Gail  and 
prepared  to  enact  the  role  of  conscientious  mother. 

"  Doctor  Boyd  proposed  to  you  to-night,"  she 
charged,  with  affectionate  authority. 

"  Yes,  Aunt  Helen,"  and  Gail  began  to  pull  pins  out 
of  her  hair. 

A  worried  expression  crossed  the  brow  of  Aunt 
Helen. 


THE  PUBLIC  IS  AROUSED         225 

"  Did  you  accept  him  ?  "  and  she  fairly  quivered  with 
anxiety. 

"  No,  Aunt  Helen."  Quite  calmly,  piling  more  hair 
pins  and  still  more  into  the  little  tray  by  her  side,  and 
shaking  down  her  rippling  waves  of  hair. 

Aunt  Helen  sighed  a  deep  sigh  of  relief,  and  smiled 
her  approval. 

"  I  was  quite  hopeful  that  you  would  not,"  and  the 
tone  was  one  of  distinct  pleasure.  "  Doctor  Boyd  is 
a  most  estimable  young  man,  but  I  should  not  at  all 
consider  him  a  desirable  match  for  you." 

Gail  walked  across  to  her  dressing  table,  and  rang 
for  her  maid.  Something  within  her  flared  up  in  de 
fence  of  Tod,  but  the  face  which,  an  instant  later,  she 
turned  toward  the  older  woman,  had  its  eyelids  down 
and  the  eyes  glinting  through  that  curving  fringe  and 
the  little  smile  at  the  corners  of  the  lips. 

"  Of  course,  he  is  perfectly  eligible,"  went  on  Aunt 
Helen,  studying  the  young  man  in  question  much  as  if 
he  were  on  the  auction  block,  and  guaranteed  sound  in 
every  limb.  "  While  there  would  be  no  possibility  of 
gaiety,  and  no  freedom  of  action  for  even  an  instant, 
with  the  eyes  of  every  one  so  critically  fixed  on  a  rec 
tor's  wife,  still  she  would  have  the  entree  into  the  most 
exclusive  circles,  and  would  have  a  social  position  of 
such  dignified  respectability  as  could  be  secured  in  no 
other  way."  Interested  in  her  own  analysis,  and  per 
fectly  placid  because,  after  all,  Gail  had  refused  him, 
she  did  not  notice  that  Gail,  now  brushing  her  hair, 
stopped  in  the  middle  of  a  downward  stroke,  and  then 
fell  to  brushing  furiously.  "  Moreover,  the  young  man 
is  highly  ambitious,"  went  on  Aunt  Helen.  "  The 
movement  for  the  magnificent  new  cathedral  had  lagged 


226  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

for  years  before  he  came;  but  he  had  not  been 
here  twelve  months  before  he  had  the  entire  congrega 
tion  ambitious  to  build  the  most  magnificent  cathedral 
the  world  has  ever  seen.  My  dear  child,  you'll  break 
your  hair  with  that  rough  brushing!  Moreover,  the 
new  rectory  must,  of  course,  be  built  in  keeping  with 
the  cathedral,  and  no  multi-millionaire  could  erect  a 
home  more  palatial  than  Doctor  Boyd  will  occupy." 

Gail  unfastened  her  necklace. 

"  However,  Gail  dear,  you  have  shown  a  degree  of 
carefulness  which  I  am  delighted  to  find  in  you,"  com 
plimented  Aunt  Helen.  "  If  you  handle  all  your  affairs 
so  sensibly,  you  have  a  brilliant  future  before  you." 

"  I  must  be  an  awful  worry  to  you,,  Aunt  Helen," 
observed  Gail,  and  walking  over,  she  slipped  her  arm 
around  Mrs.  Davies'  neck,  and  kissed  her,  and  looked 
around  for  her  chocolate  box. 

Gail's  maid  came  in,  and  Mrs.  Davies  bade  her  sis 
ter's  niece  good  night  most  cordially,  and  retired  with 
a  great  load  off  her  mind;  and  half  an  hour  later  the 
lights  in  Gail's  pretty  little  suite  went  out. 

If  she  lay  long  hours  looking  out  at  the  pale  stars, 
if,  in  the  midst  of  her  calm  logic,  she  suddenly  buried 
her  face  in  her  pillows  and  sobbed  silently,  if,  toward 
morning,  she  awoke  with  a  little  cry  to  find  her  face 
and  her  hands  hot,  all  these  things  were  but  normal 
and  natural.  It  is  enough  to  know  that  she  came  to 
her  breakfast  bright-eyed  and  rosy-cheeked  and  smil 
ing  with  the  pleasant  greetings  of  the  day,  and  picked 
up  the  papers  casually,  and  lit  upon  the  newest  sensa 
tion  of  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropolitan 
press ! 

The  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropolitan  press 
had  found  Vedder  Court,  and  had  made  it  the  sudden 


THE  PUBLIC  IS  AROUSED          227 

focus  of  the  public  eye.  Those  few  who  were  privileged 
to  know  intimately  the  workings  of  that  adroit  master 
of  the  public  welfare,  Tim  Gorman,  could  have  recog 
nised  clearly  his  fine  hand  in  the  blaze  of  notoriety 
which  obscure  Vedder  Court  had  suddenly  received. 
After  having  endured  the  contamination  and  contagion 
of  the  Market  Square  Church  tenements  for  so  many 
years,  the  city  had,  all  at  once,  discovered  that  the  con 
dition  was  unbearable !  The  free  and  entirely  uncurbed 
metropolitan  press  had  taken  up,  with  great  enthusi 
asm,  the  work  of  poking  the  finger  of  scorn  at  Vedder 
Court.  It  had  published  photographs  of  the  disrep 
utable  old  sots  of  buildings,  and,  where  they  did  not 
seem  to  drip  enough,  the  artists  had  retouched  them. 
It  had  sent  budding  young  Poes  and  Dickenses  down 
there  to  write  up  the  place  in  all  the  horrors  which  a 
lurid  fancy  could  portray,  or  a  hectic  mind  conceive ; 
and  it  had  given  special  prominence  to  the  masterly 
effort  of  one  litterateur,  who  never  went  near  the  place, 
but,  after  dancing  ably  until  three  A.  M.,  had  dashed 
up  to  his  lonely  room,  and  had  wrapped  a  wet  towel 
around  his  head,  and  had  conceived  of  the  scene  as  it 
would  look  in  absolute  darkness,  with  one  pale  lamp 
gleaming  on  the  Doreian  faces  of  the  passersby !  It  had 
sent  the  sob  sisters  there  in  shoals  to  interview  the 
down-trodden,  and,  above  all  things,  it  had  put  promi 
nently  before  the  public  eye  the  immense  profit  which 
Market  Square  Church  wrung  from  this  organised 
misery ! 

Gail  turned  sick  at  heart  as  she  read.  Uncle  Jim 
permitted  four  morning  papers  to  come  to  the  house, 
and  the  dripping  details,  with  many  variations,  were 
in  all  of  them.  She  glanced  over  toward  the  rectory 
and  the  dignified  old  church  standing  beyond  it,  with 


228  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

mingled  indignation  and  humiliation.  A  sort  of  ig 
nominy  seemed  to  have  descended  upon  it,  like  a  man 
whose  features  seem  coarsened  from  the  instant  he  is 
doomed  to  wear  prison  stripes ;  and  the  fact  which  she 
particularly  resented  was  that  a  portion  of  the  dis 
grace  of  Market  Square  Church  seemed  to  have  de 
scended  upon  her.  She  could  not  make  out  why  this 
should  be ;  but  it  was.  Aunt  Grace  Sargent,  bustling 
about  to  see  that  Gail  was  supplied  with  more  kinds  of 
delicacies  than  she  could  possibly  sample,  saw  that  un 
mistakable  look  of  distress  on  Gail's  face,  and  went 
straight  up  to  her  sister  Helen,  the  creases  of  worry 
deep  in  her  brow. 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  was  having  her  coffee  in  bed,  and 
she  continued  that  absorbing  ceremony  while  she  con 
sidered  her  sister's  news. 

"  I  did  not  think  that  Gail  was  so  deeply  affected  by 
the  occurrences  of  last  night,"  she  mused ;  "  but  of 
course  she  could  not  sleep,  and  she's  full  of  sympathy 
this  morning,  and  afraid  that  maybe  she  made  a  mis 
take,  and  feels  perfectly  wretched." 

Grace  Sargent  sat  right  down. 

"  Did  the  rector  propose?  "  she  breathlessly  inquired. 

Mrs.  Davies  poured  herself  some  more  hot  coffee, 
and  nodded. 

"  She  refused  him." 

"  Oh !  "  and  acute  distress  settled  on  Grace  Sargent's 
brow,  with  such  a  firm  clutch  that  it  threatened  to 
homestead  the  location.  Mrs.  Sargent  shared  the  be 
lief  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  mother,  that  Smith 
Boyd  was  the  finest  young  man  in  the  world ;  and  Gail's 
aunt  was  speechless  with  dismay  and  disappointment. 

"  I  have  ceased  to  worry  about  Gail's  future,"  went 
on  Mrs.  Davies  complacently.  "  It  is  her  present  con- 


THE  PUBLIC  IS  AROUSED          229 

dition  about  which  I  am  most  concerned.  She  is  so 
conscientious  and  self-analytical  that  she  may  distress 
herself  over  this  affair,  and  I  must  get  in  Arly  and  Lu- 
cile,  and  plan  a  series  of  gaieties  which  will  keep  her 
mind  occupied  from  morning  until  night." 

In  consequence  of  this  kindly  decision,  Gail  was 
plunged  into  gaiety  until  she  loathed  the  scrape  of  a 
violin !  The  mere  fact  that  she  had  no  time  to  think 
did  not  remove  the  fact  that  she  had  a  great  deal  to 
think  about,  and  the  gaiety  only  added  dismally  to  her 
troubled  burden. 

Meanwhile,  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropoli 
tan  press  went  merrily  onward  with  its  righteous  Vcd- 
der  Court  crusade,  until  it  had  the  public  indignation 
properly  aroused.  The  public  indignation  rose  to  such 
a  pitch  that  it  almost  meant,  something.  There  is  not 
the  slightest  doubt  that,  if  the  public  had  not  been 
busy  with  affairs  of  its  own,  and  if  it  had  not  been  in 
the  habit  of  leaving  everything  to  be  seen  to  by  the  peo 
ple  financially  interested,  and  if  it  had  not  consisted 
chiefly  of  a  few  active  vocal  cords,  there  is  not  the 
slightest  doubt,  it  is  worth  repeating,  that  the  public 
might  have  done  something  about  Vedder  Court!  As 
things  were,  it  grew  most  satisfactorily  indignant.  It 
talked  of  nothing  else,  in  the  subways  and  on  the  "  L's  " 
and  on  the  surface  lines,  and  on  the  cindery  commuter 
trains ;  and  on  the  third  day  of  the  agitation,  before 
something  else  should  happen  to  shake  the  populace 
to  the  very  foundation  of  its  being,  the  city  authorities 
condemned  the  Vedder  Court  property  as  unsanitary, 
inhuman,  and  unsafe,  as  a  menace  to  the  public  morals, 
health  and  life,  and  as  a  blot  upon  civilisation ;  this  last 
being  a  fancy  touch  added  by  Tim  Gorman  himself, 
who,  in  his  old  age,  had  a  tendency  to  link  poetry  to  his 


230  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

practicability.  In  consequence  of  this  decision,  the 
city  authorities  ordered  Vedder  Court  to  be  forthwith 
torn  down,  demolished,  and  removed  from  the  face  of 
the  earth;  thereby  justifying,  after  all,  the  existence 
of  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropolitan  press ! 
The  exact  psychological  moment  had  been  chosen.  The 
public,  caught  at  the  very  height  of  its  frenzy,  ap 
plauded,  and  ate  its  dinner  in  virtuous  satisfaction ;  and 
Gail  Sargent's  distress  crystallised  into  a  much  easier 
thing  to  handle;  just  plain  anger! 

And  so  Market  Square  Church  had  persisted  in 
clutching  its  greedy  hold  on  a  commercial  advantage 
so  vile  that  even  a  notoriously  corrupt  city  government 
had  ordered  it  destroyed !  Her  mind  was  immensely 
relieved  about  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd.  She  had 
chosen  well,  and  wisely! 


CHAPTER  XXII 

THE    REV.    SMITH    BOYD    PROTESTS 

THE  doves  which  in  summer  flitted  about  the  quiet 
little  vestry  yard,  and  cooed  over  the  vestry  door, 
would  have  flown  away  had  they  been  at  home;  for  it 
was  a  stormy  affair,  with  loud  voices  and  clashing  wills 
and  a  general  atmosphere  of  tensity,  which  was  some 
what  at  variance  with  the  red-robed  figure  of  the  Good 
Shepherd  in  the  pointed  window  of  the  vestry.  The  late 
arrival  was  Joseph  G.  Clark,  and  his  eye  sought  that  of 
Banker  Chisholm,  before  he  nodded  to  the  others  and 
took  his  seat  at  the  Gothic  table.  The  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  who  was  particularly  straight  and  tall  to-day, 
and  particularly  in  earnest,  paused  long  enough  for  the 
slight  disturbance  to  subside,  and  then  he  finished  his 
speech. 

"  That  is  my  unalterable  position  in  the  matter,"  he 
declared.  "  If  Market  Square  Church  has  a  mission, 
it  is  the  responsibility  for  these  miserable  human  wrecks 
whom  we  have  made  our  wards." 

"  We  can't  feed  and  clothe  them,"  objected  Banker 
Chisholm,  whose  white  mutton-chops  already  glowed 
pink  from  the  anger-reddened  skin  beneath. 

"  It  doesn't  pay  to  pauperise  the  people,"  supple 
mented  Willis  Cunningham,  stroking  his  sparse  Van 
dyke  complacently.  Cunningham,  whose  sole  relation 
ship  to  economics  consisted  in  permitting  his  secretary 


232  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

to  sign  checks,  had  imbibed  a  few  principles  which  suf 
ficed  for  all  occasions. 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  pauperise  them,"  returned  the  rec 
tor.  "  I  am  willing  to  accept  the  shame  of  having  the 
city  show  Market  Square  Church  its  duty,  in  exchange 
for  the  pleasure  of  replacing  the  foul  tenements  in  Ved- 
der  Court  with  clean  ones." 

Joseph  G.  Clark  glanced  again  at  Chisholm. 

"  They'd  be  dirty  again  in  ten  years,"  he  observed. 
"  If  we  build  the  new  type  of  sanitary  tenement  we  shall 
have  to  charge  more  rent,  or  not  make  a  penny  of  profit ; 
and  we  can't  get  more  rent  because  the  people  who 
would  pay  it  will  not  come  into  that  neighbourhood." 

"Are  we  compelled  to  make  a  profit?"  retorted  the 
rector.  "  Is  it  necessary  for  Market  Square  Church 
to  remain  perpetually  a  commercial  landlord?  " 

The  vestry  gazed  at  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  in 
surprised  disapproval.  Their  previous  rector  had 
talked  like  that,  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  had  been 
a  great  relief. 

"  So  long  as  the  church  has  property  at  all,  it  will 
meet  with  that  persistent  charge,"  argued  Chisholm. 
"  It  seems  to  me  that  we  have  had  enough  of  it.  My 
own  inclination  would  be  to  sell  the  property  outright, 
and  take  up  slower,  but  less  personal,  forms  of  invest 
ment." 

Old  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  sitting  far  enough  away  to 
fold  his  hands  comfortably  across  his  tight  vest, 
screwed  his  neck  around  so  that  he  could  glare  at  the 
banker. 

"  No,"  he  objected ;  for  the  Van  Ploon  millions  had 
been  accumulated  by  the  growth  of  tall  office  buildings 
out  of  a  worthless  Manhattan  swamp.  "  We  should 
never  sell  the  property." 


THE  REV.  BOYD  PROTESTS        233 

"  There  are  a  dozen  arguments  against  keeping  it," 
returned  the  nasal  voice  of  old  Joseph  G.  Clark.  "  The 
chief  one  is  the  necessity  of  making  a  large  investment 
in  these  new  tenements." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  rose  again,  shutting  the 
light  from  the  red  robe  of  the  Good  Shepherd  out  of 
quietly  concentrated  Jim  Sargent's  eyes. 

"  I  object  to  this  entire  discussion,"  he  stated.  "  We 
have  a  moral  obligation  which  forbids  us  to  discuss  mat 
ters  of  investment  and  profit  within  these  walls  as  if  we 
were  a  lard  trust.  We  have  neglected  our  moral  obli 
gation  in  Vedder  Court,  until  we  are  as  blackened  with 
sin  as  the  thief  on  the  cross." 

Shrewd  old  Rufus  Manning  looked  at  the  young  rec 
tor  curiously.  He  was  puzzled  over  the  change  in 
him. 

"  Don't  swing  the  pendulum  too  far,  Doctor  Boyd," 
Manning  reminded  him,  with  a  great  deal  of  kindliness. 
These  two  had  met  often  in  Vedder  Court.  "  Our  sins, 
such  as  they  are,  are  more  passive  than  active." 

It  was,  of  course,  old  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  who  fell 
back  again  on  the  stock  argument  which  had  been  quite 
sufficient  to  soothe  his  conscience  for  all  these  years. 

"  We  give  these  people  cheaper  rent  than  they  can 
find  anywhere  in  the  city." 

"  We  should  continue  to  do  so,  but  in  cleaner  and 
more  wholesome  quarters,"  quickly  returned  the  rec 
tor.  "  This  is  the  home  of  all  these  poverty  stricken 
people  whom  Market  Square  Church  has  taken  under 
its  shelter,  and  we  have  no  right  to  dispose  of  it." 

"  That's  what  I  say,"  and  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  nodded 
his  round  head.  "  We  should  not  sell  the  property." 

"  We  can  not  for  shame,  if  for  nothing  else,"  agreed 
the  rector,  seizing  on  every  point  of  advantage  to  sup- 


234  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

port  his  intense  desire  to  lift  the  Vedder  Court  derelicts 
from  the  depth  of  their  degradation.  "  We  lie  now  un 
der  the  disgrace  of  having  owned  property  so  filthy  that 
the  city  was  compelled  to  order  it  torn  down.  The 
only  way  in  which  we  can  redeem  the  reputation  of 
Market  Square  Church  is  to  replace  those  tenements 
with  better  ones,  and  conduct  them  as  a  benefit  to  the 
people  rather  than  to  our  own  pockets." 

"  That's  a  clever  way  of  putting  it,"  commended  Jim 
Sargent.  "  It's  time  we  did  something  to  get  rid  of 
our  disgrace,"  and  he  was  most  earnest  about  it.  He 
had  been  the  most  uncomfortable  of  all  these  vestry 
men  in  the  past  few  days ;  for  the  disgrace  of  Market 
Square  Church  had  been  a  very  reliable  topic  of  con 
versation  in  Gail  Sargent's  neighbourhood. 

The  nasal  voice  of  smooth-shaven  old  Joseph  G.  Clark 
drawled  into  the  little  silence  which  ensued. 

"What  about  the  Cathedral?"  he  asked,  and  the 
hush  which  followed  was  far  deeper  than  the  one  which 
he  had  broken.  Even  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was 
driven  to  some  fairly  profound  thought.  His  bedroom 
and  his  study  were  lined  with  sketches  of  the  stupen 
dously  beautiful  cathedral,  the  most  expensive  in  the 
world,  in  which  he  was  to  disseminate  the  gospel. 

"  Suppose  we  come  back  to  earth,"  resumed  Clark, 
who  had  built  the  Standard  Cereal  Company  into  a 
monopoly  of  all  the  breadstuff's  by  that  process.  "  If 
we  rebuild  we  set  ourselves  back  in  the  cathedral  project 
ten  years.  You  can't  wipe  out  what  you  call  our  dis 
grace,  even  if  you  give  all  these  paupers  free  board  and 
compulsory  baths.  My  proposition  is  to  telephone  for 
Edward  E.  Allison,  and  tell  him  we're  ready  to  accept 
his  offer." 

"  Not  while  I'm  a  member  of  this  vestry,"  declared 


THE  REV.  BOYD  PROTESTS        235 

Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  swivelling  himself  to  defy  Joseph 
G.  Clark.  "  We  don't  sell  the  property." 

"  I  put  Mr.  Clark's  proposition  as  a  motion,"  jerked 
W.  T.  Chisholm,  and  in  the  heated  argument  which  en 
sued,  the  Good  Shepherd  in  the  window,  taking  ad 
vantage  of  the  shifting  sun,  removed  from  the  room  the 
light  of  the  red  robe. 

In  the  end,  the  practical  minded  members  won  over 
the  sentimentalists,  if  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  could  be 
classed  under  that  heading,  and  Allison  was  telephoned. 
Before  they  were  through  wrangling  over  the  decision 
to  have  him  meet  them,  Allison  was  among  them.  One 
might  almost  have  thought  that  he  had  been  waiting  for 
the  call;  but  he  exchanged  no  more  friendly  glances 
with  Clark  and  Chisholm,  of  the  new  International 
Transportation  Company,  than  he  did  with  any  of  the 
others. 

"  Well,  Allison,  we've  about  decided  to  accept  your 
offer  for  the  Vedder  Court  property,"  stated  Manning. 

"  I  haven't  made  you  any,  but  I'm  willing,"  returned 
Allison. 

Jim  Sargent  drew  from  his  pocket  a  memorandum 
slip. 

"  You  offered  us  a  sum  which,  at  three  and  a  half  per 
cent.,  would  accrue,  in  ten  years,  to  forty-two  million 
dollars,"  he  reminded  the  president  of  the  Municipal 
Transportation  Company.  "  That  figures  to  a  spot- 
cash  proposition  of  thirty-one  millions,  with  a  repeating 
decimal  of  one ;  so  somebody  will  have  to  lose  a  cent." 

"  That  offer  is  withdrawn,"  said  Allison. 

"  I  don't  see  why,"  objected  Jim  Sargent.  "  The 
property  is  as  valuable  for  your  purpose  as  it  ever 
was." 

"  I  don't  dispute  that ;  but  in  that  offer  I  allowed  you 


236  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

for  the  income  earning  capacity  of  your  improved  prop 
erty.  Since  that  capacity  is  stopped,  I  don't  feel 
obliged  to  pay  you  for  it,  or,  in  other  words,  to  make 
up  to  you  the  loss  which  the  city  has  compelled  you  to 
sustain." 

"  There  is  some  show  of  reason  in  what  Allison  says," 
observed  Joseph  G.  Clark. 

Chisholm  leaned  forward,  with  his  elbows  on  the  ta 
ble,  around  the  edge  of  which  were  carved  the  heads  of 
winged  cherubs. 

"  What  is  your  present  offer?  " 

"  Twenty-five  million ;  cash." 

"  We  refuse !  "  announced  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  bob 
bing  his  round  head  emphatically. 

"  I'm  not  so  sure  that  we  do,"  returned  Clark.  "  I 
have  been  studying  property  values  in  that  neighbour 
hood,  and  I  doubt  if  we  can  obtain  more." 

"Then  we  don't  sell!"  insisted  Nicholas  Van  Ploon. 

"  I  scarcely  think  we  wish  to  take  up  this  discussion 
with  Mr.  Allison  until  we  have  digested  the  offer,"  ob 
served  the  quiet  voice  of  Manning,  and,  on  this  hint,  Al 
lison  withdrew. 

He  smiled  as  he  heard  the  voices  which  broke  out  in 
controversy  the  moment  he  had  closed  the  door  behind 
him.  Being  so  near,  he  naturally  called  on  Gail  Sar 
gent,  and  found  her  entertaining  a  little  tea  party  of 
the  gayest  and  brightest  whom  Aunt  Helen  Davies  could 
bring  together. 

She  came  into  the  little  reception  "  cosy  "  to  meet 
Allison,  smiling  with  pleasure.  There  seemed  to  be  a 
degree  of  wistfulness  in  her  greeting  of  her  friends  since 
the  night  of  her  return. 

"  Of  course  I  couldn't  overlook  an  opportunity  to 
drop  in,"  said  Allison,  shaking  her  by  both  hands,  and 


THE  REV.  BOYD  PROTESTS        237 

holding  them  while  he  surveyed  her  critically.  There 
was  a  tremendous  comfort  in  his  strength. 

"  So  you  only  called  because  you  were  in  the  neigh 
bourhood,"  bantered  Gail. 

"  Guilty,"  he  laughed.  "  I've  just  been  paying  at 
tention  to  my  religious  duties." 

"  I  wasn't  aware  that  you  knew  you  had  any,"  re 
turned  Gail,  sitting  in  the  shadow  of  the  window  jamb. 
Allison's  eyes  were  too  searching. 

"  I  attend  a  vestry  meeting  now  and  then,"  he  re 
plied,  and  then  he  laughed  shortly.  "  I'd  rather  do 
business  with  forty  corporations  than  with  one  vestry. 
A  church  always  expects  to  conduct  its  share  of  the 
negotiations  on  a  strictly  commercial  basis,  while  it  ex 
pects  you  to  mingle  a  little  charity  with  your  end  of  the 
transactions." 

"  The  Vedder  Court  property,"  she  guessed,  with  a 
slight  contraction  of  her  brows. 

"  Still  after  it,"  said  Allison,  and  talked  of  other 
matters. 

Jim  Sargent  returned,  and  glancing  into  the  little 
reception  tete-a-tete  as  he  passed,  saw  Allison  and  came 
back. 

"  I  didn't  expect  to  see  you  so  soon,"  wondered  Alli 
son. 

"  We  broke  up  in  a  row,"  laughed  Jim  Sargent. 
"  Clark  and  Chisholm  were  willing  to  accept  your  price, 
but  the  rest  of  us  listened  to  Doctor  Boyd  and  Nicholas 
Van  Ploon,  and  fell.  We  insist  on  our  cathedral,  and 
Doctor  Boyd's  plan  seems  the  best  way  to  get  it,  though 
even  that  may  necessitates  a  four  or  five  years'  delay." 

"What's  his  plan?"  asked  Allison. 

"  Rebuilding,"  returned  Sargent.  "  We  can  put 
up  tenements  good  enough  to  pass  the  building  inspec- 


238  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tors  and  to  last  fifteen  years.  With  the  same  rents  we 
are  now  receiving,  we  can  offer  them  better  quarters, 
and,  as  Doctor  Boyd  suggested,  redeem  ourselves  from 
some  of  the  disgrace  of  this  whole  proceeding.  Clever, 
sensible  idea,  I  think." 

Gail  was  leaning  forward,  with  her  fingers  clasped 
around  her  knee ;  Tier  brown  eyes  had  widened,  and  a 
little  red  spot  had  appeared  in  either  cheek ;  her  red  lips 
were  half  parted,  as  she  looked  up  in  wonder  at  her 
Uncle  Jim. 

"  Is  that  the  plan  upon  which  they  have  decided  ?  " 
and  Allison  looked  at  his  watch. 

"Well,  hardly,"  frowned  Sargent.  "We  couldn't 
swing  Clark  and  Chisholm.  At  the  last  minute  they 
suggested  that  we  might  build  lofts,  and  the  impending 
fracas  seemed  too  serious  to  take  up  just  now,  so  we've 
tabled  the  whole  thing." 

Allison  smiled,  and  slipped  his  watch  back  in  his 
pocket. 

"  It's  fairly  definite,  however,  that  you  won't  sell," 
he  concluded. 

"  Not  at  your  figure,"  laughed  Sargent.  "  If  we 
took  your  money,  Doctor  Boyd  would  be  too  old  to 
preach  in  the  new  cathedral." 

"  He'll  pull  it  through  some  way,"  declared  Allison. 
"  He's  as  smart  as  a  whip." 

Neither  gentleman  had  noticed  Gail.  She  had  set 
tled  back  in  her  chair  during  these  last  speeches,  weary 
and  listless,  and  overcome  with  a  sense  of  some  humilia 
tion  too  evasive  to  be  properly  framed  even  in  thought. 
She  had  a  sense  that  she  had  given  away  something 
vastly  precious,  and  which  would  never  be  valued. 
Neither  did  they  notice  that  she  changed  suddenly  to 
relief.  She  had  been  justified  in  her  decision. 


THE  REV.  BOYD  PROTESTS        239 

She  took  the  reins  of  conversation  herself  after  Uncle 
Jim  had  left,  and  entertained  Allison  so  brightly  that 
he  left  with  impatience  at  the  tea  party  which  monopo 
lised  her. 

Later,  when  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  dropped  in, 
he  met  with  a  surprising  and  disconcerting  vivacity. 
In  his  eyes  there  was  pain  and  suffering,  and  inexpressi 
ble  hunger,  but  in  hers  there  was  only  dancing  frivolity ; 
a  little  too  ebullient,  perhaps,  if  he  had  been  wise  enough 
to  know ;  but  he  was  not. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 

A    SERIES    OF    GAIETIES 

AIETY  consists  in  rising  in  the  morning  so  tired 
that  it  takes  three  hours  of  earnest  work  with  a 
maid,  a  masseuse,  a  physical  directress,  a  hairdresser, 
and  a  bonnetiere,  before  one  can  produce  a  spontaneous 
silvery  laugh,  which  is  never  required,  expected  or  con 
sidered  good  form  before  two  p.  M.  Gail  Sargent  went 
in  for  gaiety,  and,  moreover,  she  enjoyed  it.  She  rode, 
she  drove,  she  went  calling  and  received,  she  attended 
teas  and  gave  them,  she  dined  out  and  entertained,  in  the 
name  of  her  eager  Aunt  Grace,  she  went  to  theatres, 
the  opera,  concerts,  and  the  lively  midnight  cafes,  which 
had  all  gone  nervously  insane  with  freak  dancing,  she 
attended  balls,  house  parties,  and  all  the  in-between  di 
versions  which  her  novelty-seeking  friends  could  dis 
cover  or  invent,  and  she  flirted  outrageously !  She  used 
her  eyes,  and  the  pretty  pout  of  her  red  lips,  and  the 
toss  of  her  head,  and  all  the  wiles  of  coquetry,  to  turn 
men  into  asses,  and  she  enjoyed  that,  too!  It  was  a 
part  of  her  feminine  birthright  to  enter  with  zest  into 
this  diversion,  and  it  was  only  envy  which  criticised  her. 
Aunt  Helen  Davies,  who  knew  her  world  by  chapter  and 
verse,  stood  behind  the  scenes  of  all  this  active  vaude 
ville,  and  applauded.  It  was  at  the  opera  that  Aunt 
Helen  could  no  longer  conceal  her  marvel. 

"  My  dear,"  she  said,  under  cover  of  the  throbbing 

240 


A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  241 

music  of  Thais,  "  I  have  never  seen  anything  like  you  !  " 

"  I  don't  quite  know  whether  to  take  that  as  a  com 
pliment  or  not,"  laughed  Gail,  who  had  even,  in  her  new 
stage  of  existence,  learned  to  pay  no  attention  to  music. 

"  The  remark  was  not  only  intended  to  be  compli 
mentary,  but  positively  gushing,"  replied  Aunt  Helen, 
returning  with  a  smile  the  glance  of  their  hostess,  the 
stiff  Miss  Van  Ploon.  "  After  two  weeks  of  the  gayest 
season  I  have  ever  witnessed,  you  are  as  fresh  and  vi 
vacious  as  when  you  started." 

"  It's  a  return  to  first  principles,"  stated  Gail,  con 
sidering  the  matter  seriously.  "  I've  discovered  the  se 
cret  of  success  in  New  York,  either  commercial  or  social. 
It  is  to  have  an  unbreakable  constitution." 

The  dapper  little  marquis,  who  was  laying  a  very 
well  conducted  siege  for  the  heart  and  hand  of  Miss 
Van  Ploon,  leaned  over  Gail's  velvet  shoulder  and  whis 
pered  something  in  her  ear.  Gail  leaned  back  a  trifle 
to  answer  him,  her  deep  brown  eyes  flashing  up  at  him, 
her  red  lips  adorably  curved,  that  delicate  colour 
wavering  in  her  cheeks ;  and  Mrs.  Davies,  disregarding 
entirely  the  practised  luring  of  the  dapper  little  mar 
quis,  who  was  as  harmless  as  a  canary  bird,  viewed  Gail 
with  admiration. 

Houston  Van  Ploon,  surveying  Gail  with  pride,  made 
up  his  mind  about  a  problem  which  he  had  been  seri 
ously  considering.  Gail  Sargent,  taken  point  by  point, 
appearance,  charm,  manner,  disposition  and  health,  had 
the  highest  percentage  of  perfection  of  any  young 
woman  he  had  ever  met,  an  opinion  in  which  his  father 
and  sister  had  agreed,  after  several  solemn  family  dis 
cussions. 

Nicholas  Van  Ploon  leaned  over  to  his  daughter. 

"  She  has  dimples,"  he  catalogued,  nodding  his  round 


242  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

head  in  satisfaction  and  clasping  his  hands  comfortably 
over  his  broad  white  evening  waistcoat. 

Dick  Rodley  irrupted  into  the  box  with  Lucile  and 
Arly,  just  as  Thais  started  for  the  convent,  and  they 
were  only  the  forerunners  of  a  constant  stream  which, 
during  the  intermission,  came  over  to  laugh  with  Gail, 
and  to  look  into  her  sparkling  eyes,  and  exchange 
repartee  with  her,  and  enjoy  that  beauty  which  was  like 
a  fragrance. 

Who  was  the  most  delighted  person  in  the  Van  Ploon 
box  ?  Aunt  Helen  Davies !  She  checked  off  the  eligi- 
bles,  counting  them,  estimating  them,  judging  the  ex 
act  degree  in  which  Gail  had  interested  them,  and  the 
exact  further  degree  Gail  might  interest  them  if  she 
chose. 

Gail,  standing,  was  a  revelation  to-night,  not  alone 
to  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  who  nearly  dislocated  his  neck 
in  turning  to  feast  his  gaze  on  her  in  numb  wonder, 
but  to  Aunt  Helen  herself.  Gail  wore  an  Egyptian 
costume,  an  absurdly  straight  thing  fashioned  like  a 
cylinder,  but  which,  in  some  mysterious  and  alluring 
way,  suggested  the  long,  slender,  gracefully  curving 
lines  which  it  concealed.  The  foundation  colour  was 
tarnished  gold,  on  which  were  beaded  panels  in  dark 
blue  stones,  touched  here  and  there  with  dull  red.  En 
circling  her  small  head  was  an  Egyptian  tiara,  studded 
in  the  front  with  lapis  lazuli  and  deep  red  corals,  with 
one  great  fire  opal  glowing  in  the  centre ;  and  her  shin 
ing  brown  hair  was  waved  well  below  the  ears,  and 
smoothly  caught  under  around  the  back  of  her  perfect 
neck.  On  her  cheeks  and  on  her  lips  were  the  beauti 
ful  natural  tints  which  were  the  envy  and  despair  of 
every  pair  of  lorgnette  shielded  eyes,  but  on  her  eye 
lashes,  as  part  of  her  costume,  Gail  had  daringly  lined 


A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  243 

a  touch  of  that  intense  black  which  is  ground  in  the 
harems  of  the  old  Nile. 

"  You're  the  throb  of  the  evening,  sweetheart,"  Dick 
Rodley  laughed  down  at  her,  as  they  stood  at  the  door 
of  the  box  with  the  function  passing  in  and  out. 

"  Thank  you,  Dicky  dear,"  she  responded,  smiling 
up  at  him.  Since  her  earnest  gaieties  had  begun,  Dick 
had  been  her  most  frequent  companion.  He  was  one 
of  the  component  members  of  that  zestful  little  set  com 
posed  of  Gail,  Lucile  and  Arly,  and  the  bubbling  little 
Mrs.  Babbitt,  the  cherub-cheeked  Marion  Kenneth,  the 
entirely  sophisticated  Gwen  Halstead,  and  whatever 
nice  men  happened  to  be  available.  Dick  and  Ted  and 
Gerald  were,  of  course,  always  available. 

"  I'm  disappointed,"  complained  Dick.  "  You  don't 
blush  any  more  when  I  am  affectionate  with  you." 

"  One  loses  the  trick  here,"  she  laughed.  "  The  de 
mands  are  too  frequent." 

He  bent  a  little  closer  to  her. 

"  I'm  going  to  propose  to  you  again  to-night,"  he 
told  her. 

"  You're  so  satisfactory,"  she  returned  carelessly. 
"  But  really,  Dicky,  I  don't  see  how  you're  going  to 
manage  it,  unless  you  perform  it  right  here,  and  that's 
so  conventional." 

"  Play  hookey,"  he  mischievously  advised.  "  I'll  tell 
you  what  we'll  do.  You  shoo  Houston  out  of  the  house 
the  minute  you  get  in ;  then  Lucile  and  Ted  and  Arly 
and  Gerald  and  I  will  sail  up  and  carry  you  off  to 
supper,  after  which  I'll  take  you  home  and  pro 
pose." 

Gail's  eyes  snapped  with  the  activity  of  that  dis 
loyal  programme,  and  the  little  silvery  laugh,  for  which 
she  had  been  so  noted,  welled  up  from  her  throat. 


244  ™E  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  You  have  to  wait  around  the  corner  until  he  goes 
away,"  she  insisted. 

"  I'll  bring  a  guitar  if  you  like,"  Dick  promised,  with 
so  much  avidity  that  she  feared,  for  an  instant,  that 
he  might  do  it. 

"  You're  monopolising  me  scandalously,"  she  pro 
tested.  "  Go  away,"  and  she  turned  immediately  to 
the  dapper  little  marquis,  who  was  enduring  the  most 
difficult  evening  of  his  life.  Gail  was  so  thoroughly 
adapted  to  a  grand  affair,  one  in  which  he  could  avow 
universes ;  and  the  Miss  Van  Ploon  was  so  exacting. 

The  study  door  was  open  when  Houston  Van  Ploon 
sedately  escorted  Mrs.  Davies  and  Gail  into  the  library, 
one  of  those  rooms  which  appoint  themselves  the  instinc 
tive  lounging  places  of  all  family  intimates.  Gail  turned 
up  her  big  eyes  in  sparkling  acknowledgment  as  the 
punctilious  Van  Ploon  took  her  cloak,  and,  at  that  mo 
ment,  as  she  stood  gracefully  poised,  she  caught  the 
gaze  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  fixed  on  her  with  such 
infinite  longing  that  it  distressed  her.  She  did  not 
want  him  to  suffer. 

Uncle  Jim  strode  out  with  a  hearty  greeting,  and, 
at  the  sound  of  the  voices  of  no  one  but  Gail  and  Mrs. 
Davies  and  Houston  Van  Ploon,  old  "  Daddy  "  Man 
ning  appeared  in  the  doorway,  followed  by  the  rector. 

"  The  sweetest  flower  that  blows  in  any  dale,"  quoted 
"  Daddy "  Manning,  patting  Gail's  hand  affection 
ately. 

The  rector  stood  by,  waiting  to  greet  her,  after 
Manning  had  monopolised  her  a  selfish  moment,  and 
the  newly  aroused  eye  of  colour  in  him  seized  upon  the 
gold  and  blue  and  red  of  her  straight  Egyptian  cos 
tume,  and  recognised  in  them  a  part  of  her  endless 
variety.  The  black  on  her  lashes.  He  was  close  enough 


A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  24; 

to  see  that;  and  he  marvelled  at  himself  that  he  could 
not  disapprove. 

Gail  was  most  uncomfortably  aware  of  him  in  this 
nearness;  but  she  turned  to  him  with  a  frank  smile  of 
friendship. 

"  This  looks  like  a  conspiracy,"  she  commented, 
glancing  towards  the  study,  which  was  thick  with 
smoke. 

"  It's  an  offensively  innocent  one,"  returned  Man 
ning,  giving  the  rector  but  small  chance.  "  We're  dis 
cussing  the  plans  for  the  new  Vedder  Court  tenements." 

"  Oh !  "  observed  Gail,  and  radiated  a  distinct  chill, 
whereupon  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  divesting  him 
self  of  some  courteous  compliment,  exchanged  inane 
adieus  with  Mrs.  Davies  and  young  Van  Ploon,  and 
took  his  committee  back  into  the  study. 

Mrs.  Davies  remained  but  a  moment  or  so.  She  even 
seemed  eager  to  retire,  and  as  she  left  the  library,  she 
cast  a  hopeful  backward  glance  at  the  dancing-eyed 
Gail  and  the  correct  young  Van  Ploon,  who,  with  his 
Dutch  complexion  and  his  blonde  English  moustache 
and  his  stalwart  American  body,  to  say  nothing  of  his 
being  a  Van  Ploon,  represented  to  her  the  ideal  of  mas 
culine  perfection.  He  was  an  eligible  who  never  did 
anything  a  second  too  early  or  a  second  too  late,  or 
deviated  by  one  syllable  from  the  exact  things  he  should 
say. 

If  the  anxious  Aunt  Helen  had  counted  on  any  im 
portant  results  from  this  evening's  opportunities,  she 
had  not  taken  into  her  calculations  the  adroitness  of 
Gail.  In  precisely  five  minutes  Van  Ploon  was  on  the 
doorstep,  with  his  Inverness  on  his  shoulders  and  his 
silk  hat  in  his  hand,  without  even  having  approached 
the  elaborate  introduction  to  certain  important  remarks 


246  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

he  had  definitely  decided  to  make.  Gail  might  not  have 
been  able  to  rid  herself  of  him  so  easily,  for  he  was  a 
person  of  considerable  momentum,  but  he  had  rather 
planned  to  make  a  more  deliberate  ceremony  of  the 
matter,  impulsive  opportunities  not  being  in  his  line  of 
thought. 

A  tall  young  man  in  an  Inverness  walked  rapidly 
past  the  door  while  Van  Ploon  was  saying  the  correctly 
clever  things  in  the  way  of  adieu ;  and  shortly  after  she 
had  closed  the  door  on  Van  Ploon,  a  pebble  struck  the 
side  window  of  the  library.  Gail  opened  the  window 
and  looked  out.  Dick  Rodley  stood  just  below,  with 
his  impossibly  handsome  face  upturned  to  the  light, 
his  black  eyes  shining  with  glee,  his  Inverness  tossed 
romantically  back  over  one  shoulder,  and  an  imaginary 
guitar  in  his  hands.  Up  into  the  library  floated  the 
familiar  opening  strains  of  Tosti's  Serenade,  and  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  glanced  out  through  the  study 
door  at  the  enticing  figure  of  Gail,  and  knitted  his 
brows  in  a  frown. 

"  You  absurd  thing,"  laughed  Gail  to  the  serenader. 
"  No,  you  daren't  come  in,"  and  she  vigorously  closed 
the  window.  Laughing  to  herself,  she  bustled  into  her 
wraps. 

"  Here,  where  are  you  going? "  called  her  Uncle 
Jim. 

"  Hush !  "  she  admonished  him,  peering,  for  a  glow 
ing  moment,  in  the  study  door,  a  vision  of  such  disturb 
ing  loveliness  that  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  for  the 
balance  of  the  evening,  saw,  staring  up  at  him  from  the 
Vedder  Court  tenement  sketches,  nothing  but  eyes  and 
lips  and  waving  brown  hair,  and  delicately  ovalled 
cheeks,  their  colour  heightened  by  the  rolling  white  fur 
collar.  "  None  of  you  must  say  a  word  about  this," 


A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  247 

she  gaily  went  on.  "  It's  an  escapade !  "  and  she  was 
gone. 

Uncle  Jim,  laughing,  but  nevertheless  intent  upon 
his  responsibilities,  grabbed  her  as  she  opened  the  front 
door,  but  on  the  step  he  saw  Dick  Rodley,  and,  in  the 
machine  drawing  up  at  the  curb,  Arly  and  Gerald  and 
Lucile  and  Ted,  so  he  kissed  Gail  good  night,  and  passed 
her  over  to  the  jovial  Dick,  and  returned  to  the  study 
to  brag  about  her. 

Gaiety  reigned  supreme  once  more!  Lights  and 
music  and  dancing,  the  hum  of  chatter  and  laughter, 
the  bustle  and  confusion  of  the  place,  the  hilarity 
which  brings  a  new  glow  to  the  cheek  and  sparkle  to  the 
eye,  and  then  home  again  in  the  crisp  wintry  air,  and 
Dick  following  into  the  house  with  carefree  assurance. 

"  Gracious,  Dicky,  you  can't  come  in ! "  protested 
Gail,  with  half  frowning,  half  laughing  remonstrance. 
"  It's  a  fearful  hour  for  calls." 

"  I'm  a  friend  of  the  family,"  insisted  Dick,  calmly 
closing  the  door  behind  them  and  hanging  his  hat  on 
the  rack.  He  took  Gail's  cloak  and  threw  off  his  In 
verness.  "  I  guess  you've  forgotten  the  programme." 

"  Oh,  yes,  the  proposal,"  remembered  Gail.  "  Well, 
have  it  over  with." 

"  All  right,"  he  agreed,  and  taking  her  arm  and  tuck 
ing  her  shoulder  comfortably  close  to  him,  he  walked 
easily  with  her  back  to  the  library.  Arrived  there,  he 
seated  her  on  her  favourite  chair,  and  drew  up  another 
one  squarely  in  front  of  her. 

"  I'm  going  to  shock  you  to  death,"  he  told  her. 
"  I'm  going  to  propose  seriously  to  you." 

Some  laughing  retort  was  on  her  lips,  but  she  caught 
a  look  in  his  eyes  which  suddenly  stopped  her. 

'*  I  am  very  much  in  earnest  about  it,  Gail,"  and  his 


248  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

voice  bore  the  stamp  of  deep  sincerity.  "  I  love  you.  I 
want  you  to  be  my  wife." 

"  Dick,"  protested  Gail,  and  it  was  she  who  reached 
out  and  placed  her  hand  in  his.  The  action  was  too 
confidingly  frank  for  him  to  mistake  it. 

"  I  was  afraid  you'd  think  that  way  about  it,"  he 
said,  his  voice  full  of  a  pain  of  which  they  neither  one 
had  believed  him  capable.  "  This  is  the  first  time  I  ever 
proposed,  except  in  fun,  and  I  want  to  make  you  take 
me  seriously.  Gail,  I've  said  so  many  pretty  things 
to  you,  that  now,  when  I  am  in  such  desperate  earnest, 
there's  nothing  left  but  just  to  try  to  tell  you  how  much 
I  love  you ;  how  much  I  want  you !  "  He  stopped,  and, 
holding  her  hand,  patting  it  gently  with  unconscious 
tenderness,  he  gazed  earnestly  into  her  eyes.  His  own 
were  entirely  without  that  burning  glow  which  he  had, 
for  so  long,  bestowed  on  all  the  }'oung  and  beautiful. 
They  were  almost  sombre  now,  and  in  their  depth  was 
an  humble  wistfulness  which  made  Gail's  heart  flow  out 
to  him. 

"  I  can't,  Dick,"  she  told  him,  smiling  affectionately 
at  him.  "  You're  the  dearest  boy  in  the  world,  and 
I  want  you  for  my  friend  as  long  as  we  live;  for  my 
very  dear  friend !  " 

He  studied  her  in  silence  for  a  moment,  and  then  he 
put  his  hands  on  her  cheeks,  and  drew  her  gently  to 
wards  him.  Still  smiling  into  his  eyes,  she  held  up  her 
lips,  and  he  kissed  her. 

"  I'd  like  to  say  something  jolly  before  I  go,"  he  said 
as  he  rose ;  "  but  I  can't  seem  to  think  of  it." 

Gail  laughed,  but  there  was  a  trace  of  moisture  in 
her  eyes  as  she  took  his  arm. 

"  I'd  like  to  help  you  out,  Dicky,  but  I  can't  think 
of  it  either,"  she  returned. 


A  SERIES  OF  GAIETIES  249 

She  was  crying  a  little  when  she  went  up  the  stairs, 
and  her  mood  was  not  even  interrupted  by  the  fact  that 
Aunt  Helen's  door  was  ajar,  and  that  Aunt  Helen  stood 
just  behind  the  crack. 

"  Why,  child,  that  Egyptian  black  is  running,"  was 
Aunt  Helen's  first  observation. 

Gail  dabbed  hastily  at  the  two  tiny  rivulets  which 
had  hesitated  at  the  curve  of  her  pink  cheeks,  and  then 
she  put  her  head  on  Aunt  Helen's  shoulder,  and  wept 
softly. 

"  Poor  Dicky,"  she  explained,  and  then  turning,  dis 
appeared  into  her  own  room. 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  looked  after  her  speculatively  for 
a  moment ;  but  she  decided  not  to  follow. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 

THE    MAKER    OF    MAPS 

THERE  began  to  be  strange  new  stirrings  in  the 
world.  Money !  From  the  land  which  was  its 
home  and  place  of  abode  it  leaned  over  cross  the  wide 
seas,  and  made  potent  whisperings  in  the  ears  of  the 
countries  where  money  is  despised  and  held  vulgar. 
They  all  listened.  The  particular  potency  lay  in  the 
fact  that  the  money  was  so  big,  which  took  away  tre 
mendously  from  its  despicableness  and  its  vulgarity. 

A  black-bearded  Grand  Duke  from  the  wide  land  of 
the  frozen  seas  humbled  himself  to  plain  Ivan  Strolesky 
at  the  sound  of  that  whisper,  and  hurried  westward. 
A  high  dignitary  of  an  empire  upon  which  the  sun 
never  sets,  hid  his  title  under  a  plebeian  nom  de  plume, 
and  stalked  stolidly  away  westward  to  that  whisper  of 
despised  American  money.  From  the  land  of  fashion, 
from  the  land  of  toys,  from  the  land  of  art  and  music, 
from  the  land  of  cherry  blossoms,  from  the  land  of  the 
drowsing  drug,  from  the  land  of  the  flashing  jewels, 
from  the  lands  of  the  burning  sands  and  the  lands  of 
the  midnight  sun,  there  came  the  highest  of  power ;  and 
they  all,  light  and  swarth,  and  bearded  and  smooth,  and 
large  and  small,  and  robed  and  trousered,  centred  to 
ward  the  city  of  strong  men,  and,  one  by  one,  presented 
themselves,  in  turn,  to  a  grave  and  silent  kinky-haired 
old  darky  by  the  name  of  Ephraim. 

One  motive  alone  had  dragged  them  over  sterile 

250 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  251 

plains  and  snowy  mountains  and  bounding  seas ;  the 
magic  whisper  of  Money! 

Through  Ephraim  they  came  to  the  stocky,  square- 
standing,  square-faced  chess  player  who  was  called  Al 
lison.  They  found  him  pleasant,  agreeable,  but  hardly 
of  their  class.  He  was  so  forceful  as  to  be  necessarily 
more  or  less  crude,  and  he  had  an  unpleasant  fashion 
of  waving  aside  all  the  decent  little  pretences  about 
money.  That  was  the  fault  of  this  whole  rude  coun 
try,  where  luxury  had  been  brought  to  the  greatest 
refinement  ever  known  in  the  history  of  the  world;  it 
was  so  devoted  to  money,  and  the  cultured  gentlemen 
did  their  best  to  get  all  they  could. 

To  Ivan  Strolesky  Allison  was  frank  and  friendly, 
for  there  was  something  in  the  big  Russian  which  was 
different  from  these  others,  so  he  hastened  to  have 
business  out  of  the  way. 

"  Here  are  your  lines,"  he  said,  spreading  down  a 
map  which  had  been  brought  up-to-date  by  hand. 
"  The  ones  I  want  are  checked  in  blue.  The  others  I 
do  not  care  for." 

The  Grand  Duke  looked  them  over  with  a  keen  eye. 

"  I  am  rather  disappointed,"  he  confessed  in  excel 
lent  English.  "  I  had  understood  that  you  wished  to 
control  our  entire  railway  system." 

"  I  do,"  assented  Allison ;  "  but  I  don't  wish  to  pay 
out  money  for  them  all.  If  I  can  acquire  the  lines 
I  have  marked,  the  others  will  be  controlled  quite  easily 
from  the  fact  that  I  shall  have  the  only  outlet." 

The  Grand  Duke,  who  had  played  poker  in  America 
and  fan-tan  in  China  and  roulette  in  Monte  Carlo,  and 
all  the  other  games  throughout  the  world,  smiled  with 
his  impressive  big  eyes,  and  put  his  hand  up  under  his 
beard. 


252  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  The  matter  then  seems  to  resolve  itself  into  a  ques 
tion  of  price,"  he  commented. 

"  No ;  protection,"  responded  Allison.  "  If  I  were 
buying  these  railroads  outright,  I  should  expect  my 
property  interests  to  be  guarded,  even  if  I  had  to  ap 
peal  to  international  equity ;  but  I  am  not." 

"  No,"  admitted  the  Grand  Duke.  "  They  can  not 
be  purchased." 

"  The  proposition  resolves  itself  then  into  a  matter 
of  virtual  commercial  seizure,"  Allison  pointed  out. 

The  Grand  Duke,  still  with  his  hand  in  his  beard, 
chuckled,  as  he  regarded  Allison  amusedly. 

"  I  shall  not  mind  if  you  call  it  piracy,"  he  observed. 
"  We,  in  Russia,  must  collect  our  revenues  as  we  can, 
and  we  are  nearly  as  frank  as  Americans  about  it.  Re 
turning  to  your  matter  of  protection.  I  shall  admit 
that  the  only  agreement  upon  which  we  can  secure  what 
you  want,  would  not  hold  in  international  equity ;  and, 
in  consequence,  the  only  protection  I  can  give  you  is 
my  personal  word  that  you  will  not  be  molested  in  any 
thing  which  you  wish  to  do,  providing  it  is  pleasant  to 
myself  and  those  I  represent." 

"  Then  we'll  make  it  an  annual  payment,"  decided 
Allison,  putting  away  some  figures  he  had  prepared. 
"  We'll  make  it  a  sliding  scale,  increasing  each  year 
with  the  earnings." 

The  Grand  Duke  considered  that  proposition 
gravely,  and  offered  an  amendment. 

"  After  the  first  year,"  he  said.  "  We  shall  begin 
with  a  large  bonus,  however." 

Allison  again  put  out  of  his  mind  certain  figures  he 
had  prepared  to  suggest.  Apparently  the  Grand  Duke 
needed  a  large  supply  of  immediate  cash,  and  the  an 
nual  payments  thereafter  would  need  to  be  decreased  ac- 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  253 

cordingly,  with  still  another  percentage  deducted  for 
profit  on  the  Duke's  necessities. 

"  Let  us  first  discuss  the  bonus,"  proposed  Allison, 
and  quite  amicably  they  went  into  the  arrangement, 
whereby  Ivan  Strolesky  filched  the  only  valuable  rail 
road  lines  in  his  country  from  the  control  of  its  pres 
ent  graft-ridden  possessors,  and  handed  it  over  to  the 
International  Transportation  Company. 

"  By  the  way,"  said  Allison.  "  How  soon  can  we 
obtain  possession?  " 

Ivan  Strolesky  put  his  hand  in  his  beard  again,  and 
reflected. 

"  There  is  only  one  man  who  stands  in  the  way,"  he 
calculated.  "  He  will  be  removed  immediately  upon 
my  return." 

There  was  something  so  uncanny  about  this  that 
even  the  practical  and  the  direct  Allison  was  shocked 
for  an  instant,  and  then  he  laughed. 

"  We  have  still  much  to  learn  from  your  country,"  he 
courteously  confessed. 

When  Ivan  Strolesky  had  gone,  Allison  went  to  his 
globe  and  drew  a  bright  red  line  across  the  land  of  the 
frozen  seas. 

There  came  a  famous  diplomat,  a  heavy  blonde  man 
with  a  red  face  and  big  spectacles  and  a  high,  wide, 
round  forehead. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  you  want,"  said  the  visitor,  re 
garding  Allison  with  a  stolid  stare.  "  I  have  come  to 
see. 

"  I  merely  wish  to  chat  international  politics,"  re 
turned  Allison.  "  There  is  an  old-time  feud  between 
you  and  your  neighbours  to  the  west." 

"  That  is  history,"  replied  the  visitor  noncommitally. 
"  We  are  now  at  peace." 


254  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Never  peace,"  denied  Allison.  "  There  will  never 
be  friendship  between  phlegmatism  and  mercurialism. 
You  might  rest  for  centuries  with  your  neighbours  to 
the  west,  but  rest  is  not  peace." 

"  Excuse  me,  but  what  do  you  mean  ?  "  and  the  visi 
tor  stared  stolidly. 

"  In  your  affairs  of  mutual  relationship  with  the  land 
to  the  west,  there  are  not  less  than  a  dozen  causes  upon 
which  war  could  be  started  without  difficulty,"  went  on 
Allison.  "  In  fact,  you  require  perpetual  diplomacy 
to  prevent  war  with  that  country." 

The  visitor  locked  his  thick  fingers  quietly  together 
and  kept  on  stolidly  staring. 

"  I  hear  what  you  say,"  he  admitted. 

"  You  are  about  to  have  a  war,"  Allison  advised 
him. 

"  I  do  not  believe  so,"  and  the  visitor  ponderously 
shook  his  head. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  correct  you,  but  you  yourself  will 
bring  it  about.  You  will  make,  within  a  month,  an 
unfortunate  error  of  diplomatic  judgment,  and  your 
old  strip  of  disputed  territory  will  be  alive  with  sol 
diers  immediately." 

"  No,  it  is  not  true,"  and  the  visitor  went  so  far,  in 
his  emphasis,  as  to  unlock  his  fingers  and  rest  one  hand 
on  the  back  of  the  other. 

"  I  think  I  am  a  very  fair  prophet,"  said  Allison 
easily.  "  I  have  made  money  by  my  prophecy.  I  have 
more  money  at  my  command  at  the  present  time  than 
any  man  in  the  world,  than  any  government ;  wealth 
beyond  handling  in  mere  currency.  It  can  only  be  con 
veyed  by  means  of  checks.  Let  me  show  you  how  easy 
it  is  to  write  them,"  and  drawing  a  blank  book  to  him, 
he  wrote  a  check,  and  signed  his  name,  and  filled  out  the 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  255 

stub,  and  tore  it  out,  and  handed  it  to  the  visitor  for 
inspection.  The  visitor  was  properly  pleased  with  Al 
lison's  ease  in  penmanship. 

"  I  see,"  was  the  comment,  and  the  check  was  handed 
back.  He  drew  his  straight-crowned  derby  towards 
him. 

"  I  have  made  a  mistake,"  said  Allison.  "  I  have  left 
off  a  cipher,"  and  correcting  this  omission  with  a  new 
check,  he  tore  up  the  first  one. 

"  I  see,"  commented  the  visitor,  and  put  the  second 
check  in  his  pocket. 

That  had  required  considerable  outlay,  but  when  Al 
lison  was  alone,  he  went  over  to  his  globe  and  made  an 
other  long  red  mark. 

A  neat  waisted  man,  with  a  goatee  of  carefully  se 
lected  hairs  and  a  luxuriant  black  moustache,  called  on 
Allison,  and  laid  down  his  hat  and  his  stick  and  his 
gloves,  in  a  neat  little  pile,  with  separate  jerks.  He 
jerked  out  a  cigarette,  he  jerked  out  a  match,  and 
jerkily  lit  the  former  with  the  latter. 

"  I  am  here,"  he  said. 

"  I  am  able  to  give  you  some  important  diplomatic 
news,"  Allison  advised  him.  "  Your  country  is  about 
to  have  a  war  with  your  ancient  enemy  to  the  east.  It 
will  be  declared  within  a  month." 

"  It  will  be  finished  in  a  week,"  prophesied  the  neat- 
waisted  caller,  his  active  eyes  lighting  with  pleasure. 

"  Possibly,"  admitted  Allison.  "  I  understand  that 
your  country  is  not  in  the  best  of  financial  conditions 
to  undertake  a  war,  particularly  with  that  ancient 
enemy." 

"  The  banking  system  of  my  country  is  patriotic," 
returned  the  caller.  "  Its  only  important  banks  are 
controlled  under  one  system.  I  am  the  head  of  that 


256  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

system.  I  am  a  patriot !  "  and  he  tapped  himself  upon 
the  breast  with  deep  and  sincere  feeling. 

"  How  much  revenue  does  your  position  yield  you 
personally?  " 

A  shade  of  sadness  crossed  the  brow  of  the  neat 
waisted  caller. 

"  It  does  not  yield  you  this  much,"  and  Allison  pushed 
toward  him  a  little  slip  of  paper  on  which  were  in 
scribed  some  figures. 

The  caller's  eyes  widened  as  they  read  the  sum.  He 
smiled.  He  shrugged  his  shoulders.  He  pushed  back 
the  slip  of  paper. 

"  It  is  droll,"  he  laughed,  and  his  laugh  was  nervous. 
He  drew  the  slip  of  paper  towards  him  again  with  a 
jerky  little  motion,  then  pushed  it  back  once  more. 

"  If  your  banking  system  found  it  impossible  to  be 
patriotic,  your  government  would  be  compelled  to  raise 
money  through  other  means.  It  would  not  withdraw 
from  the  war." 

"  Never ! "  and  the  neat-waisted  caller  once  more 
touched  himself  on  the  breast. 

"  It  would  be  compelled  to  negotiate  a  loan.  If 
other  governments,  through  some  understanding  among 
their  bankers,  found  it  difficult  to  provide  this  loan, 
your  government  would  find  it  necessary  to  release  its 
ownership,  or  at  least  its  control,  of  its  most  valuable 
commercial  possession." 

The  caller,  who  had  followed  Allison's  progressive 
statement  with  interest,  gave  a  quick  little  nod  of  his 
head. 

"  That  most  valuable  commercial  possession,"  went 
on  Allison,  "  is  the  state  railways.  You  were  convinced 
by  my  agent  that  there  is  a  new  and  powerful  force  in 
the  world,  or  you  would  not  be  here.  Suppose  I  point 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  257 

out  that  it  is  possible  to  so  cramp  your  banking  system 
that  you  could  not  help  your  country,  if  you  would; 
suppose  I  show  you  that,  in  the  end,  your  ancient  enemy 
will  lose  its  identity,  while  your  country  remains  intact ; 
suppose  I  show  you  that  the  course  I  have  proposed  is 
the  only  way  open  which  will  save  your  country  from 
annihilation?  What  then?  " 

The  neat  waisted  caller,  with  the  first  slow  motion 
he  had  used  since  he  came  into  the  room,  drew  the  slip 
of  paper  towards  him  again. 

There  followed  another  banker,  a  ruddy-faced  man 
whose  heavy  features  were  utterly  incapable  of  emo 
tion ;  and  he  sat  at  Allison's  table  in  thick-jowled  solid- 

ity. 

"  There  are  about  to  begin  international  movements 
of  the  utmost  importance,"  Allison  told  him.  "  There 
is  a  war  scheduled  for  next  month,  which  is  likely  to 
embroil  the  whole  of  Europe." 

The  banking  gentleman  nodded  his  head  almost  im 
perceptibly. 

"  Mr.  Chisholm  advised  me  that  your  sources  of  in 
formation  are  authentic,"  he  stated.  "  What  you  tell 
me  is  most  deplorable." 

"  Quite,"  agreed  Allison.  "  I  am  informed  that  the 
company  you  represent  and  manage  has  the  practical 
direction  of  the  entire  banking  system  of  Europe,  with 
the  exception  of  one  country.  Besides  this,  you  have 
powerful  interests,  amounting  very  nearly  to  a  monop 
oly,  in  Egypt,  in  India,  in  Australia,  and  in  a  dozen 
other  quarters  of  the  globe." 

"  You  seem  to  be  accurately  informed,"  admitted  the 
banking  gentleman,  studying  interestedly  the  glowing 
coals  in  Allison's  fireplace. 

"  If  I  can  show  you  how  a  certain  attitude  towards 


258  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  international  complications  which  are  about  to  en 
sue  will  be  of  immense  advantage  to  your  banking  sys 
tem,  as  well  as  to  the  interests  I  represent,  I  have  no 
doubt  that  we  can  come  to  a  very  definite  understand- 
ing." 

The  solidly  jowled  banking  gentleman  studied  the 
glowing  coals  for  two  minutes. 

"  I  should  be  interested  in  learning  the  exact  de 
tails,"  he  finally  suggested. 

Allison  drew  some  sheets  of  paper  from  an  indexed 
file,  and  spread  them  before  the  financier.  It  was 
largely  a  matter  of  credits  in  the  beginning,  extensions 
here,  curtailments  there,  and  all  on  a  scale  so  gigantic 
that  both  gentlemen  went  over  every  item  with  the  im 
aginative  minds  of  poets.  In  every  line  there  was  a 
vista  of  vast  empires,  of  toppling  thrones,  of  altered 
boundaries,  of  such  an  endless  and  shifting  panorama 
of  governmental  forces,  that  the  minds  of  men  less  in 
ured  to  the  contemplation  of  commercial  and  politi 
cal  revolutions  might  have  grown  fagged.  On  the  third 
page,  the  solid  banking  gentleman,  who  had  not  made 
a  nervous  motion  since  his  grandfather  was  a  boy,  looked 
up  with  a  start. 

"  Why,  this  affects  my  own  country !  "  he  exclaimed. 
"  It  affects  our  enormous  shipping  interests,  our  great 
transportation  lines,  our  commercial  ramifications  in 
all  parts  of  the  globe !  It  cripples  us  on  the  land  and 
wipes  us  from  the  sea !  It  even  affects  my  own  govern 
ment  ! " 

"  Quite  true,"  admitted  Allison.  "  However,  I  beg 
you  to  take  notice  that,  with  the  international  compli 
cations  now  about  to  set  in,  your  government  has 
reached  its  logical  moment  of  disintegration.  Your 
colonies  and  dependencies  are  only  waiting  for  your 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  259 

startlingly  shrunken  naval  and  land  forces  to  be  em 
broiled  in  the  first  war  which  will  concentrate  your 
fighting  strength  in  one  spot.  When  that  occurs,  you 
will  have  revolutions  on  your  hands  in  a  dozen  quarters 
of  the  globe,  so  scattered  that  you  can  not  possibly 
reach  them.  India  will  go  first,  for  she  thirsts  for 
more  than  independence.  She  wants  blood.  Your  other 
colonies  will  follow,  and  your  great  shipping  interests, 
your  transportation  lines,  your  commercial  ramifica 
tions  in  all  parts  of  the  globe,  will  be  crushed  and 
crumbled,  for  the  foundation  upon  which  they  rest  has 
long  ago  fallen  into  decay.  Your  country!  Your 
country  is  already  on  the  way  to  be  crippled  on  the 
land  and  swept  from  the  sea !  I  know  the  forces  which 
are  at  work;  the  mightiest  forces  which  have  ever 
dawned  on  the  world ;  the  forces  of  twentieth  century 
organised  commerce ! " 

The  banking  gentleman  drew  a  long  breath. 

"  What  you  predict  may  not  come  to  pass,"  he  main 
tained,  although  the  secret  information  which  had 
brought  him  to  Allison  had  prepared  him  to  take  every 
statement  seriously. 

"  I  can  show  you  proofs !  The  war  which  is  to  be 
started  next  month  is  only  the  keystone  of  the  political 
arch  of  the  entire  eastern  hemisphere.  There  are  a 
dozen  wars,  each  bigger  than  the  other,  slated  to  fol 
low,  if  needed,  like  the  pressing  of  a  row  of  electric  but 
tons.  Knowing  these  things  as  you  shall,  it  is  only  a 
question  of  whether  you  will  be  with  me  on  the  crest,  or 
in  the  hollow." 

The  caller  moistened  his  lips,  and  turned  his  gaze 
finally  from  the  glowing  coals  to  Allison's  face. 

"  Show  me  everything  you  know,"  he  demanded. 

They  sat  together  until  morning,  and  they  traversed 


26o  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  world ;  and,  when  that  visitor  had  gone,  Allison 
gave  his  globe  a  contemptuous  whirl. 

The  balance  of  them  were  but  matters  of  detail. 
With  a  certain  prideful  arrogance,  of  which  he  himself 
was  aware,  he  reflected  that  now  he  could  almost  leave 
these  minor  powers  and  potentates  and  dignitaries  to 
a  secretary,  but  nevertheless  he  saw  them  all.  One 
by  one  they  betrayed  their  countrymen,  their  govern 
ments,  their  ideals  and  their  consciences,  and  all  for 
the  commodity  to  which  Allison  had  but  to  add  another 
cypher  when  it  was  not  enough !  It  was  not  that  there 
were  none  but  traitors  in  the  world,  but  that  Allison's 
agents  had  selected  the  proper  men.  Moreover,  Alli 
son  was  able  to  show  them  a  sceptre  of  resistless  might ; 
the  combined  money,  and  power,  and  control,  and  wide- 
reaching  arms  of  the  seven  greatest  monopolies  the 
world  had  ever  known!  There  was  no  strength  of  re 
sistance  in  any  man  after  he  had  been  brought,  face  to 
face,  with  this  new  giant. 

It  was  in  the  grey  of  one  morning,  when  Allison  was 
through  with  his  last  enforced  collaborator,  and,  walk 
ing  over  to  his  globe,  he  twirled  it  slowly.  It  was  lined 
and  streaked  and  crossed,  over  all  its  surface  now,  with 
red,  and  it  was  the  following  of  this  intricate  web  which 
brought  back  to  him  the  triumph  of  his  achievement. 
He  had  harnessed  the  world,  and  now  he  had  but  to 
drive  it.  That  was  the  next  step,  and  he  clenched 
his  fist  to  feel  the  sheer  physical  strength  of  his  muscles, 
as  if  it  were  with  this  very  hand  that  he  would  do  the 
driving. 

Intoxicated  with  a  sense  of  his  own  power,  he  went 
back  into  his  study,  and  drew  from  a  drawer  the  pho 
tograph  of  a  young  and  beautiful  girl,  who  seemed  to 
look  up  at  him,  out  of  an  oval  face  wreathed  with  wav- 


THE  MAKER  OF  MAPS  261 

ing  brown  hair,  and  set  with  beautifully  curved  lips 
which  twitched  at  the  corners  in  a  half  sarcastic  smile, 
from  two  brown  eyes,  deep  and  glowing  and  fraught 
with  an  intense  attractiveness.  Every  morning  he  had 
looked  at  this  photograph,  the  priceless  crown  of  his 
achievement,  the  glittering  jewel  to  set  in  the  head  of 
his  sceptre,  the  beautiful  medallion  of  his  valour! 

"  Only  a  little  longer,  Gail,"  he  told  her  with  a  smile, 
and  then  he  saluted  the  photograph.  "  Gail,  the 
maker  of  maps !  "  he  said. 


CHAPTER  XXV 

A    QUESTION    OF    EUGENICS 

/CALLERS  for  Mrs.  Helen  Davies,  and  a  huge  bou- 
^-/  quet  of  American  beauties  for  Gail.  The  latter 
young  lady  was  in  the  music  room,  engaged  with  Chopin 
and  a  great  deal  of  pensiveness,  when  the  interruption 
occurred,  and  not  quite  understanding  the  specific  di 
vision  of  ceremonies,  crossed  up  into  the  Louis  XIV 
room,  where  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  and  Miss  Van  Ploon 
sat  with  unusual  impressiveness. 

"  We  don't  wish  to  see  any  frivolous  young  people," 
said  Miss  Van  Ploon  playfully,  kissing  Gail  and  pinch 
ing  her  cheek  affectionately. 

"  You  can't  mean  me,"  laughed  Gail,  turning  to  re 
ceive  the  outstretched  palm  of  Nicholas,  who,  to  her 
intense  surprise,  bent  his  round  head  and  kissed  her 
hand. 

"  Just  you,"  returned  Miss  Van  Ploon,  drawing  Gail 
down  beside  her.  "  We  consider  you  the  most  delight 
fully  frivolous  young  person  in  existence." 

"  That's  flattering,  but  is  it  complimentary  ?  "  queried 
Gail,  and  she  was  astounded  that  Nicholas  Van  Ploon 
laughed  so  heartily.  He  had  folded  his  hands  over 
his  entirely  uncreased  vest,  and  now  he  nodded  at  her 
over  and  over. 

"  Clever,"  he  said,  "  very  clever ;  "  and  he  continued 
to  beam  on  her. 


A  QUESTION  OF  EUGENICS        263 

Miss  Van  Ploon  turned  sidewise,  to  inspect  Gail  with 
a  fondly  critical  estimate.  The  pensiveness  which  had 
needed  Chopin  for  its  expression,  and  which  had  been 
rather  growing  since  the  night  of  Dick  Rodley's  final 
proposal,  had  begun  to  set  its  slightly  etherealising 
mark  upon  her. 

"  You  are  a  trifle  pale,  my  dear,"  said  Miss  Van 
Ploon  anxiously.  "  We  must  not  allow  the  roses  to 
fade  from  those  beautiful  cheeks,"  and  Nicholas  Van 
Ploon  was  at  once  seriously  concerned.  He  straight 
ened  his  neck,  and  bore  the  exact  expression  of  a  careful 
head  of  the  family  about  to  send  for  a  doctor. 

"  That's  the  second  scolding  I've  had  about  it  to 
day,"  smiled  Gail,  a  feeling  of  discomfort  beginning  to 
tighten  itself  around  her.  "  Aunt  Grace  is  worrying 
herself  very  much  because  I  do  not  sleep  sufficiently, 
but  Aunt  Helen  tells  her  that  the  season  will  soon  be 
over." 

"  It  has  been  very  gay,"  observed  Miss  Van  Ploon 
approvingly.  "  However,  I  would  like  to  see  you  finish 
the  season  as  gloriously  as  you  began  it." 

"  You  should  systematise,"  advised  Nicholas  Van 
Ploon  earnestly,  and  in  an  almost  fatherly  tone.  "  No 
matter  what  occurs,  you  should  take  a  half  hour  nap 
before  dinner  every  day." 

Mrs.  Davies  came  into  the  room,  arrayed  in  the  black 
velvet  afternoon  gown  which  gave  her  more  stateliness 
and  more  impressive  dignity  than  anything  in  her 
wardrobe.  Miss  Van  Ploon,  who  was  a  true  member  of 
the  family,  in  that  she  considered  the  Van  Ploon  entity 
before  any  individual,  quite  approved  of  Mrs.  Davies, 
and  was  in  nowise  jealous  of  being  so  distinctly  outshone 
in  personal  appearance.  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  also  sur- 
Mrs.  Davies  with  a  calculating  eye,  and  bobbed 


264  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

his  round  head  slightly  to  himself.  He  had  canvassed 
Mrs.  Helen  Davies  before,  and  had  discussed  her  in 
family  council,  but  this  was  a  final  view,  a  dress  parade, 
as  it  were. 

"  I  suppose  I  am  dismissed,"  laughed  Gail,  rising, 
in  relief,  as  Mrs.  Davies  exchanged  the  greetings  of  the 
season  with  her  callers. 

"  Yes,  run  away  and  amuse  yourself,  child,"  and 
Miss  Van  Ploon,  again  with  that  assumption  that  Gail 
was  a  pinafored  miss  with  a  braid  down  her  back  and 
a  taffy  stick  in  one  hand,  shook  at  her  a  playful  finger ; 
whereupon  Gail,  pretending  to  laugh  as  a  pinafored 
miss  should,  escaped,  leaving  them  to  their  guild  mat 
ters,  or  whatever  it  was. 

"  What  a  charming  young  woman  she  is ! "  com 
mented  Miss  Van  Ploon,  glancing,  with  dawning 
pride,  at  the  doorway  through  which  Gail  had  disap 
peared. 

"  Indeed,  yes,"  agreed  Mrs.  Davies,  with  a  certain 
trace  of  proprietorship  of  her  own.  "  It  has  been  very 
delightful  to  chaperon  her." 

"  It  must  have  been,"  acquiesced  Miss  Van  Ploon ; 
"  and  an  extremely  responsible  task,  too." 

"  Quite,"  assented  Mrs.  Davies.  Both  ladies  were 
silent  for  a  moment.  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  watching 
them  in  equal  silence,  began  to  show  traces  of  impa 
tience. 

"  We  shall  miss  Gail  very  much  if  she  should  return 
to  her  home  at  the  end  of  the  season,"  ventured  Miss 
Von  Ploon,  and  waited. 

"  We  dread  to  think  of  losing  her,"  admitted  Mrs. 
Davies,  beginning  to  feel  fluttery.  The  question  had 
been  asked,  the  information  given. 

Miss  Van  Ploon  turned  to  her  father,  and  bowed  with 


A  QUESTION  OF  EUGENICS        265 

formal  deliberation.  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  looked  at  her 
inquiringly.  He  had  not  detected  any  particular 
meaning  in  the  conversation,  but  that  bow  was  a  letter 
of  instructions.  He  drew  a  handkerchief  from  his 
pocket,  and  touched  his  lips.  He  arose,  in  his  com 
pletely  stuffed  cutaway,  and  deliberately  brought  for 
ward  his  chair.  He  sat  down  facing  his  daughter  and 
Mrs.  Helen  Davies.  The  latter  lady  was  tremulous 
within  but  frigid  without.  Mr.  Van  Ploon  cleared  his 
throat. 

"  I  believe  that  you  are  the  acknowledged  sponsor 
of  Miss  Sargent,"  he  inquired. 

Mrs.  Davies  nodded  graciously. 

"  May  I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  if  your  beautiful 
ward  has  formed  a  matrimonial  alliance  ?  " 

"  I  am  quite  safe  in  saying  that  she  has  not."  Thus 
Mrs.  Davies,  in  a  tone  of  untroubled  reserve. 

"  Then  I  feel  free  to  speak,"  went  on  the  head  of  the 
Van  Ploons,  in  whose  family  the  ancient  custom  of  hav 
ing  a  head  was  still  rigidly  preserved.  "  I  may  state 
that  we  should  feel  it  an  honour  to  have  Miss  Sargent 
become  a  member  of  the  Van  Ploon  family." 

Since  he  seemed  to  have  more  to  say,  and  since  he 
seemed  to  have  paused  merely  for  rhetorical  effect,  Mrs. 
Helen  Davies  only  nodded  her  head,  suppressing,  mean 
time,  the  look  of  exultation  which  struggled  to  leap  into 
her  face. 

"  My  son  Houston,  I  am  authorised  to  state,  is  de 
voted  to  Miss  Sargent.  We  have  discussed  the  matter 
among  us,  and  beg  to  assure  you  that  Miss  Sargent 
will  be  received  with  affection,  if  she  should  consent  to 
honour  us  with  this  alliance." 

The  pause  this  time  was  not  for  rhetorical  effect.  It 
was  a  period,  which  was  emphasised  by  the  fact  that 


266  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Nicholas  leaned  back  in  his  chair  to  restore  his  hands 
to  their  natural  resting  place. 

"  We  are  honoured,"  observed  Mrs.  Davies,  with  ex 
cellent  courtesy  suppressing  a  gasp.  The  Van  Ploons ! 
The  Van  Ploons  amid  the  stars !  Why,  they  were  so 
high  in  the  social  firmament  that  they  dared  live  and 
talk  and  act  like  common  people  —  and  did  it.  To  be 
above  the  need  of  pretence  is  greatness  indeed !  "  I 
shall  take  up  the  matter  with  my  niece." 

"  I  thank  you,"  responded  the  head  of  the  Van 
Ploons.  "  You  have  rendered  it  possible  for  me  to  in 
form  my  son  that  he  is  at  liberty  to  speak  to  Miss  Sar 
gent.  He  is  anxious  to  call  this  evening,  if  he  may," 
whereupon  he  smiled  indulgently,  and  his  daughter  also 
smiled  indulgently,  and  Mrs.  Davies  smiled  indulgently. 

"  If  you  will  pardon  me,  I  will  ascertain  if  my  niece 
will  be  at  liberty  this  evening,"  offered  Mrs.  Davies, 
rising. 

"  We  shall  be  highly  gratified,"  accepted  Mr.  Van 
Ploon,  rising  and  bowing. 

"  We  are  so  fond  of  Gail,"  added  Miss  Van  Ploon, 
beaming  with  sincerity,  and  the  beam  was  reflected  in 
the  face  of  her  father,  who  nodded  his  spherical  head 
emphatically. 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  paused  at  the  head  of  the  stairs 
to  calm  herself.  The  Mrs.  Waverly-Gaites'  annual 
faded  into  dim  obscurity.  Mrs.  Waverly-Gaites  would 
beg  Gail  on  her  bended  knees  to  attend  the  annual,  and 
Mrs.  Helen  Davies  could  attend  if  she  liked.  She 
went  into  her  own  room,  and  took  a  drink  of  water,  and 
sat  down  for  thirty  or  forty  seconds ;  then  she  went  into 
Gail's  suite,  where  she  found  that  young  lady,  all  un 
conscious  of  the  honour  which  was  about  to  befall  her, 
reading  a  six  hundred  page  critique  of  Chopin's  music, 


A  QUESTION  OF  EUGENICS        267 

and  calmly  munching  chocolates  out  of  a  basket  deco 
rated  with  eight  shades  of  silk  roses. 

"  Sit  down  and  have  a  chocolate,  Aunt  Helen,"  hos 
pitably  offered  Gail,  slipping  a  marker  in  her  book. 

Mrs.  Davies  consumed  a  great  deal  of  time  in  select 
ing  a  chocolate,  but  she  did  not  sit  down. 

"  Shall  you  be  at  liberty  this  evening,  Gail?  "  she  in 
quired,  with  much  carelessness. 

"  Why  ?  "  and  Gail,  whose  feet  were  stretched  out  and 
crossed,  in  lazy  ease,  looked  up  at  her  aunt  sidewise 
from  under  her  curving  lashes. 

Mrs.  Davies  hesitated  a  moment. 

"  Houston  Van  Ploon  would  like  to  call." 

"Are  they  still  downstairs?"  Gail  suddenly  un 
veiled  her  eyes,  and  brought  her  slippers  squarely  in 
front  of  her  divan.  Also  she  sat  bolt  upright. 

"  Yes,"  and  Mrs.  Davies  betrayed  signs  of  nervous 
ness. 

"  Are  they  making  the  appointment  for  Houston  ?  " 

"Yes."     The  word  drawled. 

"  Why?  "  and  Gail's  brown  eyes  began  to  crackle. 

Mrs.  Davies  thought  it  better  to  sit  down. 

"  My  dear,  a  great  honour  has  come  to  you." 

Gail  leaned  forward  towards  her  aunt,  and  tilted  her 
chin. 

"  Houston  wants  to  propose,  and  he's  sent  his  father 
and  sister  to  find  out  if  he  may ! "  she  charged. 

"  Yes,"  acknowledged  Mrs.  Davies,  driven  past  the 
possibility  of  delay  or  preparation,  and  feeling  herself 
unjustly  on  the  defensive. 

"  I  shall  not  be  at  home  this  evening,"  announced 
Gail  decisively,  and  stretched  out  her  feet  again,  and 
crossed  her  little  grey  slippers,  and  took  a  chocolate. 
"  Or  any  other  evening,"  she  added. 


268  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Mrs.  Davies  lost  her  flutter  immediately.  This  was 
too  stupendously  serious  a  matter  to  be  weakly  treated. 

"  My  dear,  you  don't  understand !  "  she  protested, 
not  in  anger,  but  in  patient  reason.  "  Houston  Van 
Ploon  has  been  the  unattainable  match  of  New  York. 
He  is  a  gentleman  in  every  particular,  a  desirable  young 
man  in  every  respect,  and  gifted  with  everything  a 
young  girl  would  want.  He  has  so  much  money  that 
you  could  buy  a  kingdom  and  be  a  queen,  if  you  chose 
to  amuse  yourself  that  way.  He  has  a  dignified  old 
family,  which  makes  mere  social  position  seem  like  an 
ignominious  scramble  for  cotillion  favours ;  and  it  is 
universally  admitted  that  he  is  the  most  perfect  of  all 
the  Van  Ploons  for  many  generations.  Not  exception 
ally  clever ;  but  that  is  one  of  the  reasons  the  Van  Ploons 
are  so  particular  to  find  a  suitable  matrimonial  alliance 
for  him." 

Gail,  nibbling  daintily  at  her  chocolate,  closed  her 
eyelids  for  a  second,  the  long,  brown  lashes  curved 
down  on  her  cheeks,  and  from,  beneath  them  there  es 
caped  a  sparkle  like  the  snap  of  live  coals,  while  the 
corners  of  her  lips  twitched  in  that  little  smile  which  she 
kept  for  her  own  enjoyment. 

"  You  can  not  appreciate  the  compliment  which  has 
been  paid  you,  Gail.  Every  debutante  for  the  past 
five  years  has  been  most  carefully  considered  by  the 
Van  Ploons,  and  I  sincerely  believe  this  to  be  the  first 
time  they  have  unanimously  agreed  on  a  choice.  It  is 
a  matter  of  eugenics,  Gail,  but  in  addition  to  that,  Mr. 
Van  Plaon  assures  me  that  Houston  is  most  fervently 
interested." 

"  How  careless  of  them,"  criticised  Gail.  "  They 
have  neither  asked  for  my  measurements  nor  examined 
my  teeth." 


A  QUESTION  OF  EUGENICS        269 

"  Gail !  "  Her  chaperon  and  sponsor  was  both 
shocked  and  stern. 

"  I  positively  decline  to  even  discuss  the  Van  Ploon 
eugenics,"  stated  Gail,  pushing  aside  her  chocolates, 
while  a  red  spot  began  to  appear  on  her  cheeks.  "  I 
shall  not,  as  I  stated  before,  be  at  home  to  Houston 
Van  Ploon  this  evening  —  or  any  other  evening." 

"  I  shall  not  deliver  that  message,"  announced  Mrs. 
Davies,  setting  her  lips.  "  As  your  present  sponsor,  I 
shall  insist  that  you  take  more  time  to  consider  a  mat 
ter  so  important." 

"  I  shall  insist  on  refusing  to  consider  it  for  one  sec 
ond,"  returned  Gail  quietly.  "  I  am  very  fond  of  Hous 
ton  Van  Ploon,  and  I  hope  to  remain  so,  but  I  wouldn't 
marry  him  under  any  circumstances.  This  is  firm,  flat, 
and  final." 

Mrs.  Helen  Davies  dropped  patient  reason  instantly. 
She  was  aware  of  an  impulsive  wish  that  Gail  were  in 
pinafores,  and  her  own  child,  so  she  could  box  her  ears. 

"  Gail,  you  compel  me  to  lose  my  patience !  "  she  de 
clared.  "  When  you  came,  I  strained  every  influence 
I  possessed  to  have  you  meet  the  most  desirable  eligi- 
bles  this  big  city  could  offer,  just  as  if  you  were  my 
own  daughter !  I  have  succeeded  in  working  miracles ! 
I  have  given  you  an  opportunity  to  interest  the  very 
best !  You  have  interested  them,  but  I  have  never  seen 
such  extravagance  in  the  waste  of  opportunities !  You 
have  refused  men  whom  thousands  in  the  highest  circles 
have  sought ;  and  now  you  refuse  the  very  choice  of 
them  all !  What  or  whom  do  you  want  ?  " 

Gail's  red  spots  were  deepening,  but  she  only  clasped 
her  knee  in  her  interlocked  fingers,  her  brown  hair  wav 
ing  about  her  face,  and  her  chin  uptilted. 

"  You  can't  always  expect  to  retain  your  youth,  and 


270  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

beauty  and  charm !  "  went  on  her  Aunt  Helen.  "  You 
can't  expect  to  come  to  New  York  every  year  and  look 
over  the  eligibles  until  you  find  one  to  suit  your  fastidi 
ous  taste!  You're  capricious,  you're  ungrateful,  and 
you're  unsatisfactory !  " 

Gail's  eyes  turned  suddenly  moist,  and  the  red  flashed 
out  of  her  cheeks. 

"  Oh,  Aunt  Helen !  "  she  exclaimed  in  instant  contri 
tion.  "  I'm  so  very,  very  sorry  that  I  am  such  a  dis 
appointment  to  you!  But  if  I  just  can't  marry  Mr. 
Van  Ploon,  I  can't,  can  I?  Don't  you  see?  "  She  was 
up  now  and  down  again,  sitting  on  a  hassock  in  front 
of  Mrs.  Davies,  and  the  face  which  she  upturned  had 
in  it  so  much  of  beautiful  appeal  that  even  her  chaperon 
and  sponsor  was  softened.  "  I  was  nasty  a  while  ago, 
and  I  had  no  excuse  for  it,  for  you  have  been  loving 
and  sincere  in  your  desire  to  make  my  future  happy. 
I'm  so  very,  very  sorry!  I'll  tell  you  what  I'll  do! 
You  may  go  down  and  tell  Mr.  Van  Ploon  and  his 
daughter  that  I  will  see  Houston  this  evening,"  and  then 
she  smiled ;  "  but  you  mustn't  say  '  with  pleasure.' ' 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPRESS 

THE  soft  air  which  blew  upon  Gail's  cheek  was  like 
the  first  breath  of  spring,  and  there  was  the  far- 
off  prophecy  of  awakening  in  the  very  sunshine,  as  she 
sped  out  the  river  road  with  Allison  in  his  powerful 
runabout.  For  days  the  weather  had  been  like  this, 
mild  and  still  invigorating,  and  it  had  been  a  tremen 
dous  rest  from  the  protracted  crispness  of  the  winter. 
There  was  the  smell  of  moist  earth,  and  the  vague  sense 
of  stirring  life,  as  if  the  roots  and  the  seeds,  deep  in 
the  ground,  were  answering  to  the  thrill  of  coming 
birth. 

"  It's  glorious !  "  exclaimed  Gail,  her  cheeks  answer 
ing  to  the  caress  of  the  air  with  a  flush  of  blossom-like 
delicacy.  She  was  particularly  contented  to-day.  Al 
lison  had  been  so  busy  of  late,  and  she  had  missed  him. 
With  all  his  strength,  he  was  restful. 

"  I  feel  like  a  n  •.,  man  at  this  time  of  the  year," 
returned  Allison,  glancing  at  Gail  with  cool  apprecia 
tion.  A  car  full  of  men  passed  them,  and  the  looks 
they  cast  in  his  runabout  pleased  him.  "  Gail,  do  you 
remember  the  first  time  we  drove  out  here  ?  " 

"  Indeed  yes,"  she  laughed.  "  With  the  snow  in  our 
eyes,  and  the  roads  all  white,  with  the  lights  gleaming 
through  the  flakes  like  Arctic  will-o'-the-wisps.  We  ran 

away  that  night,  and  dined  at  Roseleaf  Inn,  and  wor- 

271 


272  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ried  the  folks  to  death,  for  fear  we  had  had  an  acci 
dent." 

"  I  had  more  than  an  accident  that  night,"  said  Al 
lison.  "  I  had  a  total  wreck." 

Gail  glanced  at  him  quickly,  but  his  face  was  clear  of 
any  apparent  purpose.  He  was  gazing  straight  ahead, 
his  clean-cut  profile,  always  a  pleasant  thing  to  look 
upon,  set  against  the  shifting  background  of  rocky 
banks  as  if  it  were  the  one  steadfast  and  unalterable 
thing  in  the  universe ;  and  he  was  smiling  irrespectively. 

"  It  was  about  here  that  it  happened,"  he  went  on. 
"  I  think  I'd  been  bragging  a  little,  and  I  think  you 
meant  to  slyly  prick  my  balloon,  which  I  will  admit 
seemed  a  kind  and  charitable  thing  to  do." 

"  What  was  it?  "  wondered  Gail,  trying  to  recall  that 
unimportant  conversation. 

"  Oh,  a  gentle  intimation  that  I  hadn't  done  so  much," 
he  laughed.  "  I  had  just  finished  consolidating  all  the 
traction  cars  in  New  York,  subways,  L's,  and  surface : 
and  I  felt  cocky  about  it.  I  even  remarked  that  I  had 
achieved  the  dream  of  my  life,  and  intended  to  rest  a 
while.  All  you  said  was,  'Why?'  '  and  his  laugh 
pealed  out.  Four  birds  in  a  wayside  bush  sprang  into 
the  air  and  flew  on  ahead. 

"  I  used  to  be  conspicuous  for  impertinence,"  smiled 
Gail.  "  I'm  trying  to  reform." 

"  I'm  glad  you  hadn't  started  when  I  met  you,"  re 
turned  Allison,  steering  around  a  sharp  stone  with  the 
firm  accuracy  which  Gail  had  so  often  admired.  "  I 
never  had  so  stinging  a  reproof  as  that  little  why.  It 
did  me  more  good  than  any  sermon  I  ever  heard." 

"  That's  positively  startling,"  replied  Gail  lightly. 
"  I  usually  hear  from  my  impertinences,  long  after,  as  a 
source  of  discomfort." 


AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPRESS     273 

"'Why?'"  repeated  Allison.  "I  took  that  why 
home  with  me.  If  you  had  said,  *  Why  should  you 
rest  a  while  ?  '  or  '  Why  should  you  stop  when  you've 
just  made  a  start?'  or  something  of  that  nature,  it 
might  not  have  impressed  me  so  much;  but  just  the  one 
unexplained  word  was  like  a  barbed  hook  in  my  mind. 
It  wouldn't  come  out.  I  asked  myself  that  why  until 
daylight,  and  I  found  no  answer.  Why,  when  I  was 
young  and  strong,  and  had  only  tasted  of  victory, 
should  I  sit  by  the  fireside  and  call  myself  old?  If  I 
had  ability  to  conquer  this  situation  with  so  much  ease, 
why  should  I  call  it  a  great  accomplishment;  for  great 
accomplishments  are  measured  by  the  power  employed." 

Gail  looked  at  him  in  questioning  perplexity.  She 
could  not  gather  what  he  meant,  but  she  had  a  sense 
of  something  big,  and  once  more  she  was  impressed  with 
the  tremendous  reserve  force  in  the  man.  His  clear 
grey  eyes  were  fixed  on  the  road  ahead,  and  the  very 
symbol  of  him  seemed  to  be  this  driving;  top  speed,  a 
long  road,  a  steady  hand,  a  cool  determination,  a  sub 
lime  disregard  of  hills  and  valleys  which  made  them 
all  a  level  road. 

"  Why  ?  That  word  set  me  out  on  a  new  principle 
that  never,  while  I  had  strength  in  me,  would  I  con 
sider  my  work  finished,  no  matter  how  great  an  achieve 
ment  I  had  made.  I  am  still  at  work." 

Something  within  her  leaped  up  in  answer  to  the 
thrill  of  exultation  in  his  voice.  To  have  been  the  in 
spiration  of  great  deeds,  even  by  so  simple  an  agency 
as  the  accidental  use  of  a  word,  was  in  itself  an  exalt 
ing  thing,  though  an  humbling  one,  too.  And  there 
were  great  deeds.  She  was  sure  of  that  as  she  looked  at 
him.  He  was  too  calm  about  it,  and  too  secure  to  have 
been  speaking  of  trifles. 


274  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  When  I  was  a  boy  I  lived  on  ancient  history,"  he 
went  on,  with  a  smile  for  the  bygone  dreamer  he  had 
been.  "  I  wanted  to  be  a  soldier,  a  great  general,  a  war 
rior,  in  the  sturdy  old  sense,  and  my  one  hero  was 
Alexander  the  Great,  because  he  conquered  the  world ! 
That's  what  I  wanted  to  do.  I  wanted  to  go  out  and 
fight  and  kill,  and  bring  kingdom  after  kingdom  under 
my  sway,  and  finally  set  myself  on  a  mighty  throne, 
which  should  have  for  its  boundaries  the  north  and  the 
south  pole !  When  I  grew  older,  and  found  how  small 
was  the  world  which  Alexander  had  conquered,  not 
much  bigger  than  the  original  thirteen  states,  I  grew 
rather  disillusioned,  particularly  as  I  was  working  at 
about  that  time  for  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a  day.  I 
spent  a  few  busy  years,  and  had  forgotten  the  dream ; 
then  you  said  '  why  '  and  it  all  came  back." 

"  Hurry !  "  commanded  Gail.  "  Curiosity  is  bad  for 
me." 

Allison  laughed  heartily  at  her  impatience.  He  had 
meant  to  arouse  her  interest,  and  he  had  done  so.  She 
would  not  have  confessed  it,  but  she  was  fascinated  by 
the  thing  he  had  held  in  reserve.  It  was  like  the  cruelty 
erf  telling  a  child  of  a  toy  in  a  trunk  which  is  still  at 
the  station. 

"  I  conquered  it,"  he  told  her,  with  an  assumption 
of  nonchalance  which  did  not  deceive  her.  There  was 
too  much  of  undervibration  in  his  tone,  and  the  eyes 
which  he  turned  upon  her  were  glowing  in  spite  of  his 
smile.  "  In  my  hand  I  hold  control  of  the  transporta 
tion  of  the  world!  If  a  pound  of  freight  is  started 
westward  or  eastward  from  New  York,  addressed  to  me 
at  its  starting  point,  it  will  circle  the  globe,  and  on 
every  mile  of  its  passage  it  will  pay  tribute  to  me.  If 
a  man  starts  to  travel  north  or  south  or  east  or  we«t, 


AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPRESS     275 

anywhere  on  the  five  continents  or  the  seven  seas,  he 
must  pay  tribute  to  me.  With  that  shipment  of  every 
necessity  and  luxury  under  my  control,  I  control  the 
necessities  and  luxuries  themselves;  so  there  is  no  hu 
man  being  in  the  world  who  can  escape  contributing 
tithes  to  the  monster  company  I  have  consolidated." 

He  was  disappointed,  for  a  moment.  She  seemed 
almost  unimpressed.  In  reality,  she  was  struggling  to 
comprehend  what  he  had  just  said  to  her.  It  was  so 
incredibly  huge  in  its  proportions,  so  gigantic,  so  ex 
travagantly  far  reaching  that  she  had  only  words  in 
her  ears.  He  must  be  speaking  in  hyperbole. 

"  I  don't  understand,"  she  said. 

"It  is  difficult  to  grasp,"  he  admitted.  "When  I 
first  conceived  of  it,  in  answer  to  your  why,  I  could  not 
myself  comprehend  any  more  than  that  I  had  thought 
of  an  absurdity,  like  the  lover  who  wished  that  the  sea 
were  ink  and  the  land  a  pen  that  he  might  seize  it,  and 
write  across  the  sky  '  I  love  you ! '  It  was  as  fantastic 
as  that  in  my  mind,  at  first,  and  in  order  to  reduce  the 
idea  to  actual  thought,  I  had  to  break  it  into  fragments  ; 
and  that  is  the  way  I  set  about  my  campaign." 

Gail  was  listening  eagerly  now.  She  was  beginning 
to  dimly  comprehend  that  Allison  had  actually  wrought 
a  miracle  of  commerce,  probably  the  most  stupendous 
in  this  entire  century  of  commercial  miracles ;  and  her 
admiration  of  him  grew.  She  had  always  admired  great 
force,  great  strength,  great  power,  and  here,  unfolding 
before  her,  was  the  evidence  of  it  at  its  zenith. 

"  Let  me  build  it  up,  step  by  step,  for  you.  Inci 
dentally,  I'll  give  you  some  confidential  news  which  you 
will  be  reading  in  months  to  come.  I  hope,"  and  he 
laughed,  "  that  you  will  not  tell  your  friends  the  re 
porters  about  it." 


276  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Cross  my  heart,  I  won't,"  she  gaily  replied.  The 
sting  of  her  one  big  newspaper  experience  had  begun  to 
die  away. 

"  When  you  asked  me  why,  I  was  trying  to  secure 
Vedder  Court  for  a  terminal  station  for  my  city  traction 
lines.  Vedder  Court  quickly  became,  in  my  imagina 
tion,  the  terminal  point  not  only  of  the  city  traction 
lines,  but  of  the  world's  transportation.  From  that  I 
would  run  a  railroad  tube  to  the  mainland,  so  that  I 
could  land  passengers,  not  only  in  the  heart  of  New 
York,  but  at  the  platforms  of  every  street  car  and  L 
and  subway  train." 

"  How  wonderful !  "  exclaimed  Gail,  in  enthusiasm. 
This  was  an  idea  she  could  grasp.  "  And  have  you  se 
cured  Vedder  Court?  " 

"  It's  a  matter  of  days,"  he  returned  carelessly. 
"  The  next  step  was  the  trans-continental  line.  I  built 
it  up,  piece  by  piece,  and  to-day,  under  my  own  per 
sonal  control,  with  sufficient  stock  to  elect  my  own  di 
rectors,  who  will  jump  when  I  crack  the  whip,  I  possess 
a  railroad  line  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  so  di 
rect,  so  straight,  and  so  allied  with  ninety-five  per  cent, 
of  the  freight  interests  of  the  United  States  that,  within 
two  years,  there  will  not  be  a  car  wheel  turning  in 
America  which  does  not  do  so  at  the  command  of  the 
A.-P.  Railroad.  That  is  the  first  step  leading  out  of 
Vedder  Court.  The  news  of  that  consolidation  will  be 
in  to-morrow  morning's  papers,  and  from  that  minute 
on,  the  water  will  begin  to  drip  from  railroad  stocks." 

"How  about  Uncle  Jim's  road?"  Gail  suddenly  in 
terrupted. 

"  I  am  taking  care  of  him,"  he  told  her  easily. 
"  From  Vedder  Court  run  subways  along  the  docks." 

"  I  see !  "  interrupted  Gail.     "  You  have  secured  con- 


AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPRESS     277 

trol  of  the  steamship  companies,  of  the  foreign  rail 
roads,  of  everything  which  hauls  and  carries !  " 

"  Airships  excepted,"  he  laughingly  informed  her. 
"  Gail,  it's  an  empire,  and  none  so  great  ever  existed  in 
all  the  world !  The  giant  monopolies  of  which  so  much 
has  been  said,  are  only  parts  of  it,  like  principalities  in 
a  kingdom.  There  isn't  a  nook  or  corner  on  the  globe 
where  one  finger  of  my  giant  does  not  rest.  The  armies 
which  swept  down  from  the  north  and  devastated  Eu 
rope,  the  hoards  which  spread  from  Rome,  the  legions 
which  marched  to  Moscow,  even  those  mighty  armies 
of  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey  were  insignificant  as  com 
pared  to  the  sway  of  this  tremendous  organisation !  All 
commerce,  all  finance,  all  politics,  must  bow  the  knee  to 
it,  and  serve  it!  Maps  will  be  shifted  for  its  needs. 
Nations  will  rise  and  fall  as  it  shall  decree,  and  the 
whole  world,  every  last  creature  of  it,  shall  feed  it  and 
be  fed  by  it!" 

He  paused,  and  turned  to  her  with  a  positive  radi 
ance  on  the  face  which  she  had  always  considered  heavy. 
She  had  looked  on  him  as  a  highly  successful  money- 
grubber,  as  a  commercial  genius,  as  a  magician  of 
manipulation,  as  a  master  of  men ;  but  he  was  more  than 
all  these ;  he  was  a  poet,  whose  rude  epics  were  written 
in  the  metre  of  whirling  wheels  and  flying  engines  and 
pounding  propellers ;  a  poet  whose  dreams  extended  be 
yond  the  confines  of  imagination  itself;  and  then,  above 
that,  a  sorcerer  who  builded  what  he  dreamed! 

There  is  a  magic  thrill  in  creation.  It  extends  be 
yond  the  creator  to  the  created,  and  it  inspires  all  who 
come  in  contact  with  it.  Gail's  eager  mind  traversed 
again  and  again  the  girdle  he  had  looped  around  the 
world,  darting  into  all  its  intricacies  and  ramifications, 
until  she,  too,  had  pursued  it  into  all  the  obscure  nooks 


278  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

and  crannies,  and  saw  the  most  remote  and  distant  peo 
ples  dependent  upon  it,  and  paying  toll  to  it,  and  sway 
ing  to  its  command.  This  was  a  dream  worthy  of  ac 
complishment  ;  a  dream  beyond  which  there  could  be  no 
superlative;  and  the  man  beside  her  had  dreamed  it, 
and  had  builded  it;  and  all  this  would  not  have  hap 
pened  if  she  had  not  given  him  the  hint  with  one  potent 
word  which  had  spurred  him,  and  set  his  marvellously 
constructive  mind  to  work. 

In  so  far  they  were  partners  in  this  mighty  enter 
prise,  and  he  had  been  magnanimous  enough  to  ac 
knowledge  her  part  in  it.  It  drew  them  strangely  near. 
It  was  a  universe,  in  the  conception  of  which  no  other 
minds  than  theirs  had  dabbled,  in  the  modelling  of 
which  no  other  hand  had  been  thrust.  What  agile  mind, 
gifted  with  ambition,  and  broad  conception,  and  the 
restlessness  which,  in  her,  had  not  only  ranged  world 
wide  but  beyond  the  aether  and  across  the  vast  seas  of 
superstition  and  ignorance  and  credulity  to  God  him 
self;  what  mind  such  as  this  could  resist  the  insidious 
flattery  of  that  mighty  collaboration? 

She  was  silent  now,  and  he  left  her  silent,  brooding, 
himself,  upon  the  vast  scope  of  his  dreaming,  and  plan 
ning  still  to  centre  more  and  more  the  fruits  of  that 
dreaming  within  his  own  eager  hand. 

Roseleaf  Inn.  Gail  recognised  it  with  a  smile  as  they 
turned  in  at  the  drive.  She  was  glad  that  they  had 
come  here,  for  it  was  linked  in  her  mind  with  the  begin 
nings  of  that  great  project  of  which  she  had  been  the 
impulse,  and  in  which  the  thing  in  her  that  had  been 
denied  opportunity  because  she  was  a  woman,  claimed 
a  hungry  share.  At  his  suggestion  —  it  was  more  like 
a  command,  but  she  scarcely  noticed  —  she  telephoned 
that  she  was  going  to  remain  to  dinner  with  Allison; 


6.2 

0)    O 


M     C 

4->      * 

«  ^ 


AN  EMPIRE  AND  AN  EMPRESS     279 

and  then  they  enjoyed  a  two-hour  chat  of  many  things, 
trivial  in  themselves,  but  fraught  now  with  delightful 
meaning,  because  they  had  to  think  on  so  many  unex 
pressed  things,  larger  than  these  idle  people  about  them 
could  conceive,  or  grasp  if  they  knew. 

Homeward  again  in  the  starlit  night,  still  in  that 
whirl  of  exultation.  It  was  somewhat  chillier  now,  and 
Allison  bundled  her  into  the  machine  with  rough  ten 
derness.  She  felt  the  thrill  of  him  as  he  sat  beside  her, 
and  the  firm  strength  with  which  he  controlled  the 
swiftly  speeding  runabout,  was  part  her  strength.  They 
were  kindred  spirits,  these  two,  soaring  above  the  affairs 
of  earth  in  the  serene  complacency  of  those  who  make 
trifles  of  vastness  itself.  They  did  not  talk  much,  for 
they  had  not  much  to  talk  about.  The  details  of  a 
scheme  so  comprehensive  as  Allison's  were  not  things  to 
be  explained,  they  were  things  to  be  seen  in  a  vision. 
Once  she  asked  him  about  the  bringing  of  the  foreign 
railroads  into  the  combination,  and  he  told  her  that 
this  would  only  be  accomplished  by  a  political  up 
heaval,  which  would  take  place  next  month,  and  would 
probably  involve  the  whole  of  Europe.  It  was  another 
detail;  and  it  seemed  quite  natural.  She  was  so  inter 
ested  that  he  told  her  all  about  his  foreign  visitors. 

In  the  Park,  Allison  stopped  at  the  little  outlook 
house  where  they  had  climbed  on  that  snowy  night,  and 
they  stood  there,  with  the  stars  above  and  the  trees 
below  and  the  twinkling  lights  stretching  out  to  the 
horizon,  all  alone  above  the  world  of  civilisation.  Be 
low  sounded  the  clang  of  street  cars,  and  far  off  to 
the  left,  high  in  the  air,  there  gleamed  the  lights  of  a 
curving  L  train.  That  was  a  part  of  Allison's  world 
which  he  had  long  since  conquered,  a  part  which  he 
already  held  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand ;  and  the  fact  that 


28o  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

every  moving  thing  which  clung  upon  a  track  in  all  this 
vast  panorama  was  under  his  dominion,  served  only  to 
illustrate  and  make  plain  the  marvel  of  the  accomplish 
ment  which  was  now  under  way.  Beyond  that  dim 
horizon  lay  another  and  still  another,  and  in  them  all, 
wherever  things  moved  or  were  transported,  the  lift  of 
Allison's  finger  was  to  start  and  stop  the  wheels,  to  the 
uttermost  confines  of  the  earth !  Oh,  it  was  wonderful ; 
wonderful !  And  she  was  part  of  it ! 

It  was  there  that  he  proposed  to  her.  It  did  not  sur 
prise  her.  She  had  known  it  when  they  had  entered  the 
Park,  and  that  this  was  the  place. 

He  told  her  that  all  this  empire  was  being  builded 
to  lay  at  her  feet,  that  she  was  the  empress  of  it  and 
he  the  emperor,  hut  that  their  joy  was  to  he  not  in  the 
sway,  not  in  the  sceptre  and  crown,  but  in  the  doing, 
and  in  the  having  done,  and  in  the  conceiving  and  hav 
ing  conceived! 

Was  this  a  cold  painting  of  pomp  and  glory  and  ad 
vantage  and  reward?  He  added  to  it  the  fire  of  a 
lover,  and  to  that  the  force  and  mastery  and  compulsion 
of  his  dynamic  power.  She  felt  again  the  potent  thrill 
of  him,  and  the  might  and  sweep  and  drive  of  him,  and 
with  the  hot,  tumbling  words  of  love  in  her  ears,  and 
her  senses  a-rcel,  and  her  mind  in  its  whirling  exulta 
tion,  she  felt  between  them  a  sympathy  and  a  union 
which  it  was  not  in  human  strength  to  deny!  Some 
thing  held  her  back,  something  made  her  withhold  the 
word  of  promise,  on  the  plea  that  she  must  have  more 
time  to  think,  to  consider,  to  straighten  out  the  tangle 
of  her  mind;  but  she  suffered  him  to  sweep  her  in  his 
arms,  and  rain  hot  kisses  upon  her  face,  and  to  tell 
her,  over  and  over  and  over  and  over,  that  she  belonged 
to  him,  forever  and  forever! 


CHAPTER  XXVII 

ALMSON'S    PRIVATE    AND    PARTICULAR    DEVIL 

THE  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  enjoyed  an  un 
usual  treat.  It  had  a  sensation  which  did  not 
need  to  be  supported  by  a  hectic  imagination  or  a  lurid 
vocabulary.  Vedder  Court  had  been  condemned  for  the 
use  of  the  Municipal  Transportation  Company !  A 
new  eight  track,  double-deck  tube  was  to  be  constructed 
through  Crescent  Island  to  the  mainland ! 

Grand  climax!  Through  this  tube  and  into  Vedder 
Court,  at  the  platforms  of  the  surface  and  L  and  sub 
way  cars,  was  to  come  the  passenger  trains  of  the  new 
Atlantic-Pacific  Railroad,  a  line  three  hundred  miles 
shorter  than  any  now  stretching  between  Broadway  and 
the  Golden  Gate!  Any  reader  of  the  daily  press,  of 
whom  there  are  several,  knows  precisely  what  the  free 
and  entirely  uncurbed  did  with  this  bit  of  simon-pure 
information.  The  glittering  details  began  on  the  first 
page,  turned  on  the  second,  continued  on  the  fourth, 
jumped  over  to  the  seventh,  and  finished  back  among 
the  real  estate  ads.  It  began  early  in  the  morning, 
and  it  continued  until  late  at  night,  fresh  details  pil 
ing  upon  each  other  in  mad  profusion,  their  importance 
limited  only  by  the  restrictions  of  type! 

Extra!  The  trick  by  which  the  A.-P.  ran  through 
the  mountains  over  the  Inland  Pacific's  track! 

Extra,  extra!  The  compulsion  by  which  the  Mid- 

281 


282  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

continent  was  brought  to  complete  the  big  gap  in  the 
new  A.-P-  system ! 

Tremendous  extra !  The  contracts  of  freightage, 
subject  strictly  to  the  Inter-State  Commerce  law,  be 
tween  the  A.-P.  and  the  cereal  trust,  the  metal  trust, 
the  fuel  trust,  the  cloth  trust,  and  all  the  other  in 
iquitous  combinations  in  restraint  of  everything !  Wow ! 
Zowie!  That  was  the  hot  one!  The  A.-P.  was  the 
main  stem,  and  within  thirteen  seconds  of  the  appear 
ance  on  the  streets  of  the  tremendous  extra,  every  other 
fragile  branchlet  of  a  railroad  not  under  the  immedi 
ate  protection  of  the  A.-P.,  was  reduced  to  a  shrivel, 
and  its  stocks  began  to  drop  with  the  sickening  plunge 
of  an  unopened  parachute! 

Gail  Sargent  kept  Nanette  on  the  rush  for  extras 
from  the  first  yell  on  the  streets,  and  she  read  every 
word,  including  the  underlines  on  the  miscellaneous  por 
traits  of  Allison  and  the  funny  pi-lines  which  invari 
ably  occurred  in  the  middle  of  the  most  interesting 
sentences. 

It  was  true,  all  true !  Here  was  the  first  step  in  Al 
lison's  tremendous  project  an  accomplished  fact.  The 
rest  of  it  would  be  gradually  revealed,  from  day  to  day, 
as  suited  his  needs,  and  the  empire  he  had  planned  would 
spread,  until  its  circles  touched,  and  overlapped,  and 
broke  into  an  intricate  webbing,  over  all  the  land  and 
water  of  the  earth !  And  she  was  to  be  the  Empress ! 

Was  she?  Through  all  the  night  she  had  battled 
that  question,  and  the  battle  had  left  traces  of 
darkness  around  her  luminous  eyes.  First,  she 
had  been  in  the  swirl  of  his  tremendous  compul 
sion,  overwhelmed  by  the  sheer  physical  force  of 
him,  captured  not  by  siege  but  by  sortie.  Then 
had  come  the  dazzling  splendour  of  his  great  plan, 


ALLISON'S  PRIVATE  DEVIL         283 

a  temptation  of  power,  of  might,  of  unlimited  ruler- 
ship,  in  the  spoils  of  which,  and  the  honour  of  which, 
and  the  glory  of  which,  she  would  share.  Next,  in  the 
midst  of  her  expanding  anticipation,  there  had  come, 
as  out  of  a  clear  sky,  a  sudden  inexplicable  fear.  It 
was  a  shrinking,  almost  like  a  chill,  which  had  attacked 
her.  Allison  himself!  The  sheer  physical  dominance 
of  him ;  the  tempestuous  mastery  of  him ;  and  again 
she  felt  that  breathless  sensation  of  utter  helplessness 
which  she  had  experienced  in  the  little  lookout  house. 
It  was  as  if  he  were  pulling  the  very  life  out  of  her, 
to  the  upbuilding  of  his  own  strength !  It  was  in  the 
very  nature  of  him  to  sweep  her  away  by  storm;  it 
was  a  part  of  his  very  bigness.  He  was  colossal,  gi 
gantic,  towering!  And  she  had  conquered  this  giant, 
had  been  the  motive  of  his  strength,  the  very  pinnacle 
of  his  cloud-topping  ambition !  There  was  pride  in 
that,  pride  and  to  spare.  It  distressed  her  that  again 
and  again  came  that  impulse  of  fear,  that  shrinking. 
A  new  thought  dawned.  Perhaps  this  was  the  thing 
which  she  had  desired,  the  thing  for  which  she  had  been 
waiting;  to  be  taken,  and  crushed. 

Another  disturbance  came  to  her.  This  mighty 
plan  of  Allison's.  The  exaltation  of  achievement,  the 
dazzling  glory  of  accomplishment,  had  blinded  her  to 
the  processes  by  which  the  end  must  be  gained,  and 
the  fact  which  drew  her  attention  to  this  was  the  re 
membrance  that  her  Uncle  Jim  was  to  be  protected! 
What  about  the  others?  For  Allison  to  gain  control 
and  dominion  over  thousands  of  now  segregated  in 
terests,  those  thousands  must  lose  their  own  control. 
What  would  become  of  them? 

Pshaw!  That  was  the  way  of  the  world,  particu 
larly  of  the  commercial  world.  As  her  father  had 


284  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

often  expressed  it,  the  big  fish  ate  the  little  fish  be 
cause  fish  was  the  only  food  for  fish;  and  Allison  was 
the  biggest  one  of  them  all.  That  was  the  way  of 
him ;  to  devour  that  he  might  live.  Even  here,  far  from 
him,  and  safe  in  her  dainty  little  chintz  hung  suite,  she 
felt  the  dominance  of  him.  Turn  her  eyes  where  she 
would,  with  the  lids  open  or  closed,  he  filled  her  vision, 
not  in  his  normal  stature,  but  grown  to  the  dimensions 
of  his  force,  filling  the  sky,  the  earth,  the  sea,  blot 
ting  out  everything!  There  was  no  escaping  him.  He 
had  come  to  claim  her,  and  she  belonged  to  him ;  that  is, 
unless  she  chose  to  call  upon  a  strength  still  latent  in 
her.  There  was  a  something  else  which  she  could  not 
define  just  now,  which  seemed  to  call  to  her  persistently 
through  the  darkness.  A  voice  —  but  the  collossus 
stood  between !  She  wondered  if  she  were  happy.  She 
wondered  what  her  Aunt  Helen  would  say.  Bigness 
and  power  and  dominance;  she  had  admired  them  all 
her  life. 

Late  in  the  afternoon  Jim  Sargent  came  home, 
drawn,  fagged,  and  with  hollows  under  his  eyes.  He 
had  a  violent  headache,  and  he  looked  ten  years  older. 
He  walked  slowly  into  the  library  where  Mrs.  Sargent 
and  Mrs.  Davies  and  Gail  were  discussing  the  future 
of  Vedder  Court,  and  dropped  into  a  chair. 

Grace  Sargent  rang  a  bell  instantly.  When  Jim 
felt  that  way,  he  needed  a  hot  drink  first  of  all. 

"  What  is  the  matter?  "  she  asked  him,  the  creases 
of  worry  flashing  into  her  brow. 

"  It's  been  a  hard  day,"  he  explained,  forcing  him 
self,  with  an  effort,  to  answer.  Years  of  persistent 
experience  had  taught  him  to  follow  the  line  of  least 
resistance.  "  There  has  been  a  panic  on  'Change. 
Railroads  are  going  to  smash  all  up  and  down  the  line. 


ALLISON'S  PRIVATE  DEVIL         285 

Allison's  new  A.-P.  road.  It's  the  star  piracy  of  the 
century.  Allison  has  brought  into  the  railroad  game 
the  same  rough-shod  methods  he  used  in  his  traction 
manipulations." 

"Has  your  company  been  hurt,  Jim?"  asked  his 
wife,  fully  prepared  for  the  worst,  and  making  up  her 
mind  to  bear  up  bravely  under  it. 

"  Not  yet,"  replied  Sargent,  and  he  passed  his  hand 
over  his  brow.  He  was  already  making  a  tremendous 
effort  to  brace  himself  for  to-morrow's  ordeal.  "  I 
escaped  to-day  by  an  accident.  By  some  mistake  the 
Towando  Valley  was  mentioned  as  belonging  to  the 
new  A-P.  combination.  Of  course  I  didn't  correct  it, 
but  by  to-morrow  they'll  know." 

"  Mr.  Allison  was  responsible  for  that  statement," 
Gail  serenely  informed  her  uncle.  "  He  promised  he'd 
take  care  of  you." 

"  Great  guns  !  "  exploded  her  uncle.  "  What  did  you 
know  about  this  thing?  " 

"  All  of  it,"  smiled  Gail.  She  had  known  that  Al 
lison  would  keep  his  word,  but  it  gave  her  a  strange 
sense  of  relief  that  he  had  done  so. 

Her  Aunt  Helen  turned  to  her  with  a  commanding 
eye ;  but  Gail  merely  dimpled. 

"  Of  course  I  couldn't  say  anything,"  went  on  Gail. 
"  It  was  all  in  confidence.  Isn't  it  glorious,  Uncle 
Jim!" 

"  You  wouldn't  have  thought  so  if  you'd  been  down 
town  to-day,"  responded  her  uncle,  trying  again  to 
erase  from  his  brow  the  damage  which  had  been  done 
to  his  nerves.  "  They  wanted  to  mob  Allison !  He 
has  cut  the  ground  from  under  the  entire  railroad  busi 
ness  of  the  United  States!  Their  stocks  have  deflated 
an  aggregate  of  billions  of  dollars,  and  the  slump  is 


286  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

permanent!  He  has  bankrupted  a  host  of  men,  rifled 
the  pockets  of  a  million  poor  investors;  he  has  demor 
alised  the  entire  transportation  commerce  of  the  United 
States ;  and  he  gave  no  one  the  show  of  a  rat  in  a  trap  !  " 

"  Isn't  that  business?  "  asked  Gail,  the  red  spots  be 
ginning  to  come  into  her  cheeks. 

"  Not  quite !  "  snapped  her  Uncle  Jim.  "  Fiction 
has  made  that  the  universal  idea,  but  there  are  decent 
men  in  business.  The  majority  of  them  are,  even  in 
railroading.  Most  roads  are  organised  and  conducted 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  carrying  freight  and  passen 
gers  at  a  profit  for  the  stockholders,  and  spectacular 
stock  jobbing  deals  are  the  exception  rather  than  the 
rule." 

"  Has  Mr.  Allison  been  more  unfair  than  others  who 
have  made  big  consolidations  ?  "  demanded  Gail,  again 
aware  of  the  severely  inquiring  eye  of  Aunt  Helen. 

"  Rotten !  "  replied  her  uncle,  with  an  emphasis  in 
which  there  was  much  of  personal  feeling.  "  He  has 
taken  tricky  advantage  of  every  unprotected  loophole. 
He  won  from  the  Inland  Pacific,  at  the  mere  cost  of 
trackage,  a  passage  which  the  Inland  built  through 
the  mountains  by  brilliant  engineering  and  at  an  al 
most  countless  cost." 

"Isn't  that  accounted  clever?"  asked  Gail. 

"  So  is  the  work  of  a  confidence  man  or  a  wire-tap 
per!"  "was  the  retort.  "But  they  are  sent  to  jail 
just  the  same.  The  Inland  created  something.  It 
built,  with  brains  and  money  and  force,  and  sincere 
commercial  enterprise,  a  line  which  won  it  a  well-earned 
supremacy  of  the  Pacific  trade.  It  was  entitled  to 
keep  it;  yet  Allison,  by  making  with  it  a  tricky  con 
tract  for  the  restricted  use  of  the  key  to  its  su- 


ALLISON'S  PRIVATE  DEVIL         287 

premacy,  uses  that  very  device  to  destroy  it.  He 
has  bankrupted,  or  will  have  done  so,  a  two  thousand 
mile  railroad  system,  which  is  of  tremendous  commer 
cial  value  to  the  country,  in  order  to  use  a  hundred 
miles  of  its  track  and  remove  it  from  competition!  Al 
lison  has  created  nothing.  He  has  only  seized,  by 
stealth,  what  others  have  created.  He  is  not  even  a 
commercial  highwayman.  He  is  a  commercial  pick 
pocket!" 

Gail  had  paled  by  now. 

"  Tell  me  one  thing,"  she  demanded.  "  Wouldn't 
any  of  the  railroad  men  have  employed  this  trick  if 
they  had  been  shrewd  enough  to  think  of  it?  " 

"  A  lot  of  them,"  was  the  admission,  after  an  awk 
ward  pause.  "  Does  that  make  it  morally  and  eth 
ically  correct  ?  " 

"  You  may  be  prejudiced,  Jim,"  interpolated  Aunt 
Helen,  moving  closer  to  Gail.  "  If  they  are  all  play 
ing  the  game  that  way,  I  don't  see  why  Mr.  Allison 
shouldn't  receive  applause  for  clever  play." 

"You  bet  I'm  prejudiced!"  snarled  Sargent,  over 
coming  his  weariness  and  pacing  up  and  down  the  li 
brary  floor.  "  He  came  near  playing  my  road  the  same 
trick  he  did  the  Inland  Pacific.  He  secured  control 
of  the  L.  and  C.,  because  it  has  a  twenty-year  contract 
for  passage  over  fifty  miles  of  our  track.  He'd  throw 
the  rest  of  our  line  away  like  a  peanut  hull,  if  he  had 
not  promised  Gail  to  protect  me.  I'm  an  object  of 
charity !  " 

"  Oh !  "  It  was  a  scarcely  audible  cry  of  pain.  Aunt 
Helen  moved  closer,  and  patted  her  hand.  Gail  did 
not  notice  the  action. 

"Why  did  he  make  you  that  promise,  Gail?"  de- 


288  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

manded  her  uncle,  turning  on  her  suddenly,  with  a 
physical  motion  so  much  like  her  father's  that  she  was 
startled. 

"  He  wants  me  to  marry  him,"  faltered  Gail. 

Aunt  Grace  sat  down  by  the  other  side  of  Gail. 

"Have  you  accepted  him,  dear?"  she  asked. 

There  was  a  lump  in  Gail's  throat.  She  could  not 
answer ! 

"  She'll  never  marry  him  with  my  consent !  "  stormed 
her  Uncle  Jim,  "  Nor  with  Miles's !  The  fellow's  an 
unscrupulous  scoundrel !  He's  made  of  cruelty  from 
his  toes  to  his  hair!  He  stops  at  nothing!  He  even 
robbed  Market  Square  Church  of  six  million  dollars !  " 

Gail's  head  suddenly  went  up  in  startled  inquiry. 
She  wanted  to  still  defend  Allison;  but  she  dreaded 
what  was  to  come. 

"  We  wouldn't  sell  him  Vedder  Court  at  his  price ; 
so  he  took  it  from  us  at  six  million  less  than  he  orig 
inally  offered.  He  did  that  by  a  trick,  too." 

All  three  women  looked  up  at  him  in  breathless  in 
terest. 

"  He  had  the  city  condemn  Vedder  Court,"  went  on 
Sargent.  "  If  he  had  condemned  it  outright  for  the 
Municipal  Transportation  Company,  he  would  have 
had  to  pay  us  about  the  amount  of  his  original  offer; 
but  his  own  private  and  particular  devil  put  the  idea 
into  his  head  that  the  Vedder  Court  tenements  should 
be  torn  down  anyhow,  for  the  good  of  the  public !  So 
he  had  the  buildings  condemned  first,  destroying  six 
million  dollars'  worth  of  value ;  then  he  had  the  ground 
condemned!  Tim  Gorman  probably  got  about  a  mil 
lion  dollars  for  that  humanitarian  job!" 

A  wild  fit  of  sobbing  startled  them  all. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII 

LOVE 

ALLISON  swept  Gail  into  his  arms,  and  rained  hot 
kisses  upon  her,  crushing  her  closely  to  him.  She 
offered  no  resistance,  and  the  very  fact  that  she  held 
so  supinely  in  his  arms,  made  Allison  release  her  sooner 
than  he  might  otherwise  have  done.  She  had  known 
that  this  experience  must  come,  that  no  look  or  gesture 
or  word  of  hers  could  ward  it  off. 

"  You  must  never  do  that  again,"  she  told  him,  step 
ping  back  from  him,  and  regaining  her  breath  with  an 
effort.  She  had  lingered  in  the  front  parlours  to  re 
ceive  him  before  her  Uncle  Jim  should  know  that  he 
was  in  the  house,  and  she  had  led  him  straight  into  the 
little  tete-a-tete  reception  room.  She  meant  to  free 
herself  quickly. 

"Why  not?  "  he  laughed,  and  advanced  toward  her, 
taking  her  attitude  lightly,  ascribing  her  action  to  a 
girlish  whim,  confident  in  his  power  over  her.  He  meant 
to  dispose  of  her  coyness  by  taking  her  in  his  arms 
again.  She  belonged  to  him. 

"  Mr.  Allison."  The  tone  was  cold  enough,  and 
deadly  in  earnest  enough  to  arrest  him. 

"  What's  the  matter,  Gail  ?  "  he  protested,  ready  to 
humour  her,  to  listen  to  what  she  had  to  say,  to  smooth 
matters  out. 

"  You  have  no  right,"  she  told  him. 

289 


290  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  Yes  I  have,"  he  jovially  assured  her.  "  I  hope  I 
don't  have  to  wait  until  after  marriage  for  a  kiss.  If 
that's  the  case  I'll  take  you  out  and  marry  you  right 
now." 

There  was  an  infection  in  his  laugh,  contagion  in 
the  assumption  that  all  was  right  between  them,  and 
that  any  difference  was  one  which  could  be  straightened 
out  with  jolly  patience,  and  Gail,  though  her  deter 
mination  would  not  have  changed,  might  have  softened 
toward  him,  had  she  not  seen  in  his  face  a  look  which 
paled  her  lips.  Ever  since  last  night  he  had  antici 
pated  her,  had  rejoiced  in  his  possession  of  her,  had 
dreamed  on  the  time  when  he  should  take  her  for  his 
own ;  and  his  eyes  were  cloudy  with  his  thoughts  of  her. 

"  Let  us  have  a  clear  understanding,  Mr.  Allison." 
She  was  quite  erect,  and  looking  him  directly  in  the 
eyes.  Her  own  were  deep  and  troubled,  and  the  dark 
trace  which  had  been  about  them  in  the  morning  had 
deepened.  "  I  told  you  last  night  that  I  should  need 
time  in  which  to  decide;  and  I  have  decided.  I  shall 
not  marry  you" 

He  returned  her  gaze  for  a»  moment,  and  his  brow 
clouded. 

"  You've  changed  since  last  night,"  he  charged  her. 

"  Possibly,"  she  admitted.  "  It  is  more  likely,  how 
ever,  that  I  have  merely  crystallised.  I  prefer  not  to 
discuss  it."  She  saw  on  his  face  the  growing  instinct 
to  humiliate  her. 

"  You  must  discuss  it,"  he  insisted.  "  Last  night 
when  I  took  you  in  my  arms  you  made  no  objection. 
I  was  justified  in  doing  it  again  to-night.  You're  not 
a  fool.  You  knew  from  the  first  that  I  wanted  you, 
and  you  encouraged  me.  Now,  I'm  entitled  to  know 
what  has  made  the  change." 


LOVE  291 

The  telltale  red  spots  began  to  appear  in  her  cheeks. 

"  You,"  she  told  him.  "  Last  night,  your  scheme  of 
world  empire  seemed  a  wonderful  thing  to  me,  but  since 
then  I've  discovered  that  it  cannot  be  built  without  dis 
honesty  and  cruelty ;  and  you've  used  both." 

His  brow  cleared.      He  laughed  heartily. 

"  You've  been  reading  the  papers.  There  isn't  a 
man  in  the  financial  field  who  wouldn't  do  everything 
I've  done ;  and  be  proud  of  it.  I  can  make  you  see 
this  in  the  right  light,  Gail." 

"  It's  a  proof  of  your  moral  callousness  that  you 
think  so,"  she  informed  him.  "  Can  you  make  me  see 
it  in  the  right  light  that  you  even  used  me,  of  whom 
you  pretended  to  think  sacredly  enough  to  marry,  to 
help  you  in  your  most  despicable  trick  of  all?" 

"  Look  here,"  he  protested.  "  That'  would  be  im 
possible  !  You're  misinformed." 

"  I  wish  I  were,"  she  returned.  "  Unfortunately, 
it  is  a  matter  of  direct  knowledge.  You  caused  Ved- 
der  Court  to  be  torn  down  because  I  thought  it  should 
be  wiped  out  of  existence,  and  in  the  process  you  cheated 
Market  Square  Church  out  of  six  million  dollars !  " 

He  could  not  have  been  more  shocked  if  she  had 
struck  him. 

"  I  knew  you  did  not  understand,"  he  kindly  reproved 
her.  "  I  didn't  want  those  old  buildings.  They 
couldn't  have  sold  them  for  the  wreckage  price.  When 
you  suggested  that  they  should  be  torn  down,  I  saw  it. 
They  were  a  public  menace,  and  the  public  was  right 
with  the  movement.  The  condemnation  price  will  cover 
all  they  could  get  from  the  property  from  any  source. 
You  see,  you  don't  understand  business,"  and  his  tone 
was  forgiving.  "  I'd  have  been  foolish  to  pay  six  mil 
lion  dollars  for  something  I  couldn't  use.  You  know, 


292  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Gail,  when  the  building  commissioners  came  to  look 
over  those  buildings,  they  were  shocked !  Some  of  them 
wouldn't  have  stood  up  another  year.  It  was  only  the 
political  influence  of  Clark  and  Chisholm  and  a  few  of 
the  other  big  guns  of  the  congregation,  which  kept  them 
from  being  condemned  long  ago.  You  shouldn't  in 
terfere  in  business.  It  always  creates  trouble  between 
man  and  wife,"  and  he  advanced  to  put  his  arm  around 
her,  and  soothe  her. 

The  hand  with  which  she  warded  him  off  was  effec 
tive  this  time.  She  stared  at  him  in  wonder.  It  seemed 
inconceivable  that  the  moral  sense  of  any  intelligent 
man  should  be  so  blunted. 

"  There's  another  reason,"  she  told  him,  despairing 
of  making  him  realise  that  he  had  done  anything  out 
of  the  way.  "  I  do  not  love  you.  I  could  not." 

For  just  a  moment  he  was  checked;  then  his  jaws 
set. 

"  That  is  something  you  must  learn.  You  have 
young  notions  of  love,  gleaned  from  poetry  and  fiction. 
You  conceive  it  to  be  an  ideal  stage  of  existence,  a  mys 
terious  something  almost  too  delicate  for  perception 
by  the  human  senses.  I  will  teach  you  love,  Gail ! 
Look,"  and  he  stretched  up  his  firm  arm,  as  if  in  his 
grip  he  already  held  the  reins  of  the  mighty  empire  he 
was  hewing  out  for  her.  "  Love  is  a  thing  of  strength, 
of  power,  of  desire  which  shakes,  and  burns,  and  con 
sumes  with  fever !  It  is  like  the  lust  to  kill !  It  whips, 
and  it  goads,  and  it  drives !  It  creates !  It  puts  new 
images  into  the  brain ;  it  puts  new  strength  into  sin 
ews  ;  it  puts  new  life  into  the  blood !  It  cries  out !  It 
demands !  It  has  caused  me  to  turn  back  from  mid 
dle-age  to  youth,  to  renew  all  my  ambitions,  a  thou 
sandfold  enhanced  by  my  maturity !  It  has  caused  me 


LOVE  293 

to  grapple  the  world  by  the  throat,  and  shake  it,  throt 
tle  it ;  so  that  I  might  drag  it,  quivering,  to  your  feet 
and  say,  this  is  yours ;  kick  it !  That  is  love,  Gail ! 
It  drives  one  on  to  do  great  deeds !  It  gives  one  the 
impulse  to  recognise  no  bounds,  no  bars,  no  obstacles ! 
It  has  put  all  my  being  into  the  attainment  of  things 
big  enough  to  show  you  the  force  of  my  will,  and  what 
it  could  conquer !  Do  you  suppose  that,  with  such  love 
driving  me  on,  any  objection  which  you  may  make  will 
stop  me  ?  No !  I  set  out  to  attain  you  as  the  summit 
of  my  desire,  the  one  thing  in  this  world  I  want,  and 
will  have !  " 

Again  that  great  fear  of  him  possessed  Gail.  She 
feared  many  things.  She  feared  that,  in  spite  of  her 
determination,  he  would  still  have  her,  and  in  that  pos 
sibility  alone  lay  all  the  other  fears,  fears  so  gruesome 
that  she  did  not  dare  see  them  clearly !  She  knew  that 
she  must  retain  absolute  control  of  herself. 

"  I  shall  not  discuss  the  matter  any  further,"  she 
quietly  said,  and  walking  straight  towards  the  door, 
passed  by  him,  quite  within  the  reach  of  his  arm,  with 
out  either  looking  at  him  or  away  from  him.  Some 
thing  within  his  own  strength  respected  hers,  in  spite 
of  him.  "  I  have  said  all  that  I  have  to  say." 

"  So  have  I,"  he  replied,  coming  closer  to  her  as  she 
stood  in  the  doorway,  and  he  gazed  down  at  her  with 
eyes  in  which  there  was  insolent  determination,  and 
cruelty.  "  I  have  said  that  I  mean  to  have  you,  and  I 
will." 

Without  a  word,  she  went  into  the  hall.  He  followed 
her,  and  took  his  hat. 

"  Good  evening,"  he  said  formally. 

"  Good  evening,"  she  replied,  and  he  went  out  of  tho 
door. 


294  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

When  he  had  gone,  she  flew  up  to  her  rooms,  her  first 
coherent  thought  being  that  she  had  accomplished  it ! 
She  had  seen  Allison,  and  had  given  him  her  definite 
answer,  and  had  gotten  him  out  of  the  house  while  the 
others  were  back  in  the  billiard  room.  She  had  held 
up  splendidly,  but  she  was  weak  now,  and  quivering  in 
every  limb,  and  she  sank  on  her  divan,  supported  on 
one  outstretched  arm ;  and  in  this  uncomfortable  po 
sition,  she  took  up  the  eternal  question  of  Gail.  The 
angry  tears  of  mortification  sprang  into  her  eyes ! 

A  half  hour  later  her  Aunt  Grace  came  up,  and 
found  her  in  the  same  position. 

"  Mrs.  Boyd  and  Doctor  Boyd  are  downstairs,  dear," 
she  announced. 

Gail  straightened  up  with  difficulty.  Her  arm  was 
numb. 

"  Please  make  my  excuses,  Aunty,"  she  begged. 

"What's  the  matter?"  asked  Aunt  Grace,  the 
creases  jumping  into  her  brow  as  if  they  lay  some 
where  in  the  roots  of  her  hair,  ready  to  spring  down  at 
an  instant's  notice.  "  Aren't  you  feeling  well  ?  Shall 
I  get  you  something?  " 

"  No,  thank  you,"  smiled  Gail  wanly.  "  I'm  just  a 
little  fatigued." 

"  Then  don't  you  come  a  step,"  and  Aunt  Grace 
beamed  down  on  her  niece  with  infinite  tenderness.  She 
had  an  intuition,  these  days,  that  the  girl  was  troubled ; 
and  her  sympathies  were  ready  for  instant  production. 
"  You'll  have  to  tell  me  what  to  say,  though.  I'm  so 
clumsy  at  it." 

"  Just  tell  them  the  truth,"  smiled  Gail,  and  punch 
ing  two  pillows  together,  she  stretched  herself  at  full 
length  on  the  divan. 


LOVE  295 

Her  Aunt  Grace  regarded  her  with  a  puzzled  expres 
sion  for  a  moment,  and  then  she  laughed. 

"  I  see ;  you're  lying  down."  She  looked  at  Gail 
thoughtfully  for  a  moment.  "  Dear,  could  you  close 
your  eyes  ?  " 

"  Certainly,"  agreed  Gail,  and  the  brown  lashes 
curved  down  on  her  cheeks,  though  there  was  a  sharp 
little  glint  from  under  the  edges  of  her  lids. 

Her  Aunt  Grace  stooped  and  kissed  the  smooth  white 
brow,  then  she  went  downstairs  and  entered  the  library. 

"  Gail  is  lying  down,"  she  primly  reported.  "  Her 
eyes  are  closed." 

The  library  was  quite  steadily  devoted  to  Vedder 
Court  to-night.  A  highly  important  change  had  come 
into  the  fortunes  of  Market  Square  Church.  It  was 
as  if  a  stone  had  been  thrown  into  a  group  of  card 
board  houses.  All  the  years  of  planning  had  gone  the 
way  of  the  wind,  and  the  card  houses  had  all  to  be  built 
over  again.  The  Cathedral  had  receded  by  a  good  five 
years,  unless  the  force  and  fire  of  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd  should  be  sufficient  to  coax  capital  out  of  the 
pockets  of  his  millionaire  congregation ;  and,  in  fact, 
that  quite  normal  plan  was  already  under  advisement. 

The  five  of  this  impromptu  counsel  were  deep  in  the 
matter  of  ways  and  means,  when  a  slender  apparition, 
in  clinging  grey,  came  down  the  stairs.  It  was  Gail, 
who,  for  some  reason  unknown,  even  to  her,  had  decided 
that  she  was  selfish ;  and  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's 
heart  ached  as  he  saw  the  pallor  on  her  delicately  tinted 
cheeks  and  the  dark  tracing  about  her  brown  eyes. 
She  slipped  quietly  in  among  them,  her  brown  hair 
loosely  waved,  so  that  unexpected  threads  of  gold  shone 
in  it  when  she  passed  under  the  chandelier,  and  she 


296  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

greeted  the  callers  pleasantly,  and  sat  down  in  the  cor 
ner,  very  silent.  She  was  glad  that  she  had  come.  It 
was  restful  in  this  little  circle  of  friends. 

A  noise  filled  the  hall,  and  even  the  lights  of  the 
library  seemed  to  brighten,  as  Lucile  and  Ted,  Arly 
and  Gerald,  and  Dick  Rodley,  came  tumbling  in,  laugh 
ing  and  chattering,  and  carrying  hilarity  in  front  of 
them  like  a  wave.  Gail  shoved  her  tangle  of  thoughts 
still  further  back  in  her  head,  and  the  sparkle  returned 
into  her  eyes. 

"  We're  bringing  you  a  personal  invitation  to  Arly 
and  Gerald's  yacht  party,"  jabbered  Lucile,  kissing 
everybody  in  reach  except  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

"  You  might  let  Arly  extend  the  invitation  herself," 
objected  Ted. 

"  I've  given  the  pleasure  to  Gerald,"  laughed  Arly, 
with  a  vivacious  glance  at  that  smiling  gentleman. 
"  He  does  it  so  much  better.  Now  listen." 

"  It's  a  little  informal  week-end  party,  on  the  White- 
cap,"  Gerald  informed  them,  with  a  new  something  in 
him  which  quite  satisfactorily  took  the  place  of  cor 
diality.  "  Sort  of  a  farewell  affair.  Arly  and  I  are 
about  to  take  a  selfish  two  months'  cruise,  all  by  our 
selves,"  and  he  glanced  fondly  at  the  handsome  black- 
haired  young  woman  under  discussion.  "  We  should 
be  pleased  to  have  you  join  us,"  and  he  included  Mrs. 
Boyd  and  the  young  rector  with  a  nod. 

"  Of  course  we'll  come,"  agreed  Gail.  "  Doctor 
Boyd,  can't  you  arrange  for  a  week-end  party  once  in 
your  life?  " 

"  Unfortunately  custom  has  decreed  that  week-end 
parties  shall  cover  Sundays,"  he  regretted,  but  there 
was  a  calculating  look  in  his  eye  which  sent  Lucile 
over  to  him. 


LOVE  297 

"  Play  hooky  just  once,"  she  begged.  "  This  is  only 
a  family  crowd,  the  Babbitts  and  Marion  Kenneth,  and 
we  who  are  here." 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  looked  at  his  mother,  and 
that  lady  brightened  visibly. 

"  When  is  it  to  be?  "  he  asked. 

"  Saturday,"  Arly  informed  him,  joining  Lucile, 
who  had  sat  on  the  arm  of  Mrs.  Boyd's  chair.  Arly 
sat  on  the  other  one,  and  Gerald  Fosland,  with  an  en 
tirely  new  appreciation  of  beauty,  thought  he  had  never 
seen  a  prettier  picture  than  the  sweet-faced  old  lady 
with  the  fresh  and  charming  young  women  on  either 
side  of  her. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  glanced,  for  just  an  in 
stant,  at  Gail,  who  was  now  sitting  on  the  leather  couch 
leaning  confidingly  against  her  Aunt  Grace.  He  had 
been  at  some  pains  to  avoid  this  young  lady  recently, 
for  it  is  natural  to  spare  one's  self  distress ;  but  there 
was  a  look  of  loneliness  about  her  which  sent  his  heart 
out  to  her  in  quick  sympathy. 

"  I  think  I'll  play  hooky,"  he  announced,  with  a 
twinkle  in  the  eyes  which  he  now  cast  upon  his  mother. 

"  That's  being  a  good  sport,"  approved  Ted.  "  Stay 
away  a  Sunday  or  two,  and  Market  Square  Church 
will  appreciate  you  better." 

"  Let's  have  some  music,"  demanded  Lucile. 

"  Gail  and  Doctor  Boyd  must  sing  for  you,"  an 
nounced  Aunt  Grace,  in  whom  there  was  a  trace  of  wist- 
fulness.  "  They  do  sing  so  beautifully  together !  " 

"  I'm  afraid  I  can't  to-night,"  refused  Gail  hastily, 
and  indeed  she  had  good  reason  why  her  voice  should 
not  have  its  firm  and  true  quality  just  now.  "  I  will 
accompany  Doctor  Boyd,  though,  with  pleasure,"  and 
she  started  toward  the  music  room. 


298  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  cut  off  from  the  or 
dinary  lies  about  not  being  in  good  voice,  and  suffering 
from  a  slight  cold,  and  such  things.  He  hesitated  a 
moment,  and  then  he  followed. 

The  Bedouin  Love  Song,  the  Garden  of  Sleep,  and 
others  of  the  solo  repertoire  which  Gail  had  selected 
for  him,  came  pulsing  out  of  the  music  room,  first  hesi 
tantly,  and  then  with  more  strength,  as  the  friendly 
nearness  between  himself  and  the  accompanist  became 
better  established. 

Presently,  the  listeners  in  the  library  noticed  an  un 
usual  pause  between  the  songs,  a  low  voiced  discussion, 
and  then,  the  two  perfectly  blended  voices  rose  in  a 
harmony  so  perfect  that  there  was  moisture  in  the  eyes 
of  two  of  the  ladies  present. 


CHAPTER  XXIX 

GAIL    FIRST  ! 

ALLISON,  springing  forward  with  a  jerk  as  he  left 
Jim  Sargent's  house,  headed  his  long,  low  run 
about  up  the  Avenue.  He  raced  into  the  Park,  and 
glanced  up  at  the  lookout  house  as  he  sped  on  past ; 
but  it  was  only  a  fleeting  look.  He  needed  no  reminder 
of  Gail,  and  he  scarcely  noticed  that  he  was  following 
the  same  road  which  they  had  so  often  taken  together. 
His  only  impulse  had  been  to  drive  somewhere  at  top 
speed,  and  he  had  automatically  chosen  this  path.  The 
night  was  damp  and  chill,  but  his  evening  top  coat  was 
open,  revealing  the  white  glint  of  his  shirt  front.  He 
did  not  seem  to  mind.  As  he  passed  Roseleaf  Inn,  he 
slowed  down.  The  roadhouse  may  have  given  him,  and 
probably  did,  another  reminder  of  Gail,  in  such  a  man 
ner  as  to  concrete  him  into  logical  thought ;  for  he 
slowed  down  the  terrific  speed  which  had  been  the  ac 
companiment  of  his  unreasoning  emotion.  The  driv 
ing  required  too  much  concentration  for  specific 
thought. 

With  this  turning  of  his  mental  attitude,  even  the 
slow  running  of  the  car  seemed  to  disturb  him,  and, 
about  half  a  mile  past  Roseleaf  Inn,  he  came  slowly  to 
a  stop,  sitting  at  the  wheel,  with  his  head  bent  slightly 
forward,  and  staring  at  the  spot  where  the  roadway 
had  ceased  to  roll  beneath  his  machine.  Presently  he 

299 


300  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

became  aware  of  the  cold,  and  running  his  car  to  the 
side  of  the  road,  he  stepped  out,  and,  buttoning  his  coat 
around  him,  crossed  a  fence  and  walked  through  the 
narrow  strip  of  trees  to  the  river  bank,  where  he  stood 
for  a  moment  looking  out  upon  the  misty  Hudson, 
sparkling  under  the  moonlight.  He  began  to  walk  up 
and  down  the  bank  presently,  the  turf  sinking  spongily 
under  his  feet,  and  it  was  noticeable  that  his  pace  grew 
more  and  more  rapid,  until  he  was  striding  at  a  furious 
rate  of  speed. 

The  man  was  in  a  torment  of  passion.  He  had  spent 
a  lifetime  in  the  deliberate  acquisition  of  everything 
upon  which  he  had  set  his  will ;  and  it  was  one  of  the 
things  upon  which  he  had  built  his  success,  that,  once 
he  had  fixed  his  desire  deliberately  upon  anything,  he 
had  held  unwaveringly  to  that  object,  employing  all  the 
forces  of  which  strong  men  are  capable  ;  patient  waiting, 
dogged  persistence,  or  vicious  grappling,  whichever  was 
best  adapted  to  gain  his  ends. 

Gail !  If  there  had  been  tender  thoughts  of  her,  they 
were  gone  now.  He  saw  her  in  a  thousand  enchant 
ments  ;  sitting  beside  him,  clad  in  the  white  furs  which 
added  such  piquancy  to  her  rosy  cheeks  and  sparkling 
eyes ;  lounging  in  the  library,  in  some  filmy,  clinging 
robe  which  defined  her  grace,  half  concealing  and  half 
suggesting  the  long,  delicately  curving  lines  which  had 
so  appealed  to  his  ruthlessness ;  sitting  at  the  piano, 
her  beautiful  small  head  slightly  bent  forward,  display 
ing  the  requisite  line  at  the  nape  of  her  neck,  her  brown 
hair  waving  backward  to  a  simple  knot,  her  rounded 
white  arms  free  from  the  elbows,  and  her  slender  fingers 
flashing  over  the  keys ;  coming  down  the  stairway,  in 
the  filmy  cream  lace  gown  which  had  made  her  seem 
so  girlishly  fragile,  her  daintily  blue  slippered  feet  and 


GAIL  FIRST!  301 

her  beautifully  turned  ankles  giving  a  hint  of  the  grace 
and  suppleness  of  her  whole  self;  in  her  black  beaded 
ball  costume,  its  sparkling  deadness  displaying  the  ex 
quisite  ivory  tints  and  beautiful  colouring  of  her  neck 
and  shoulders  and  bosom  with  startling  effectiveness. 
In  these  and  a  thousand  other  glowing  pictures  he  saw 
her,  and  with  every  added  picture  there  came  a  new 
pain  in  his  thought  of  her. 

He  felt  the  warmth  of  her  hand  upon  his  arm,  the 
brush  of  her  shoulder  against  his  own,  the  mere  elbow 
touch  as  she  sat  beside  him  in  the  car,  the  many  little 
careless  contacts  of  daily  life,  unconscious  to  her,  but 
to  him  fraught  always  with  flame;  and,  finally,  that 
maddening  moment  when  he  had  crushed  her  in  his 
arms,  and  so  had  made,  for  all  time  to  come,  the  posses 
sion  of  her  a  necessity  almost  maniacal  in  the  violence 
of  its  determination !  He  heard  the  sound  of  her  voice, 
in  all  its  enchanting  cadences,  from  the  sweetness  of 
her  murmured  asides  to  the  ring  of  her  laugh ;  and  the 
delicate  fragrance  which  was  a  part  of  her  overwhelmed 
him  now,  in  remembrance,  like  an  unnerving  faintness! 

It  was  so  that  he  had  centred  h'^  mind  upon  her,  and 
himself  and  his  will,  until,  in  all  creation,  there  was 
nothing  else  but  that  was  trivial ;  ambition,  power, 
wealth,  fame,  the  command  of  empires  and  of  men,  wen* 
nothing,  except  as  they  might  lead  to  her! 

As  a  boy  Allison  had  been  endowed  with  extraor 
dinary  strength.  From  a  mother  who  had  married 
beneath  her  socially  he  had  inherited  a  certain  redeem 
ing  refinement  of  taste,  a  richness  of  imagination,  a 
turn  of  extravagance,  a  certain  daring  and  confidence. 
Had  his  heredity  been  left  to  the  father  alone,  he  would 
have  developed  into  a  mere  brute,  fighting  for  the  love 
of  inflicting  pain,  his  ambitions  confined  to  physical 


302  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

supremacy  alone.  As  it  was,  the  combination  had  made 
of  him  a  brute  more  dangerous  by  the  addition  of  in 
telligence.  In  spite  of  gentle  surroundings,  he  had 
persistently  ran  away  to  play  in  a  rough  and  tumble 
neighbourhood,  where  he  had  been  the  terror  of  boys 
a  head  taller  than  himself,  and  had  established  an  un 
questioned  tyranny  among  them.  He  had  a  passion 
at  that  time  for  killing  cats,  and  a  devilish  ingenuity 
in  devising  new  modes  of  torture  for  them,  saturating 
them  with  gasoline  and  burning  them  alive,  and  other 
such  ghastly  amusements.  The  cruelty  of  this  he  had 
from  the  father,  the  ingenuity  from  the  mother. 
In  a  fleeting  introspection,  a  review  which  could  have 
occupied  but  a  few  seconds  of  time,  he  saw  back  through 
the  years  of  his  passion,  for  every  year  had  been  a  pas 
sion  of  supremacy,  as  if  the  cinematograph  of  his  life 
had  flashed  swiftly  before  him,  pausing  for  illumination 
at  certain  points  which  had  marked  the  attainment  of 
hard-won  goals. 

The  days  of  his  schooling,  when  the  mother  in  him 
had  made  him  crave  knowledge  in  spite  of  the  physical 
instincts  which  drove  him  out  doors.  He  accomplished 
both.  He  went  at  his  lessons  viciously,  perhaps  be 
cause  they  were  something  which  had  a  tendency  to  baf 
fle  him,  and  he  had  made  no  braver  fights  in  life  than 
on  those  lonely  nights  when,  angry  and  determined,  he 
had  grappled  with  his  books  and  conquered  them.  He 
had  won  football  honours  at  the  same  time.  It  was 
said  that  half  the  victories  of  his  team  came  through 
the  fear  of  Allison  on  the  opposing  elevens.  He  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  demon  on  the  gridiron.  His 
eyes  became  slightly  bloodshot  in  every  contest,  and  he 
went  into  every  battle  with  a  smile  on  his  lips  which 
was  more  like  a  snarl.  His  rise  to  football  supremacy 


GAIL  FIRST!  303 

was  well  remembered  all  through  life  by  a  dozen  crip 
ples.  He  had  been  extremely  fond  of  football,  even 
after  one  of  his  strongest  opponents  had  been  carried 
from  the  field  with  a  broken  neck. 

Then  business.  A  different  sort  of  cruelty  entered 
there.  He  had  a  method  of  advancement  which  was 
far  more  effective  than  adroitness.  With  the  same  vi 
cious  fever  of  achievement  which  had  marked  the  con 
quering  of  his  books,  he  had  made  himself  flawlessly  ef 
ficient,  and  had  contrasted  himself  deliberately  with 
whatever  weakness  he  could  find  in  his  superiors.  On 
the  day  when  the  superintendent  drank,  Allison  took 
especial  pains  to  create  an  emergency,  a  break-down  in 
the  power  plant,  and  showed  himself  side  by  side  with 
the  temporarily  stupid  superintendent,  clear-eyed, 
firm-jawed,  glowing  cheeked,  ready  to  grapple  with  his 
own  emergency.  He  became  superintendent.  Trick 
ery,  now.  A  block  of  stock  here,  a  block  of  stock 
there,  a  combination  of  small  holdings  by  which  an  un 
suspected  group  of  outsiders  swept  in  with  control  of 
that  first  little  street  car  company.  Allison's  was  the 
smallest  block  of  shares  in  that  combination,  infinitesi 
mal  as  compared  with  the  total  capitalisation  of  the 
company,  the  investment  of  his  small  savings  combined 
with  all  the  borrowing  he  could  manage.  Yet,  since 
he  had  organised  the  rebellion,  he  was  left  in  its  con 
trol  by  the  same  personal  dominance  with  which  he  had 
brought  together  the  warring  elements.  Less  than  two 
years  after  his  accession  to  management,  he  had  frozen 
out  the  associates  who  had  put  him  in  power.  They 
none  of  them  knew  how  it  was  done,  but  they  did  know 
that  he  had  taken  advantage  of  every  tricky  oppor 
tunity  his  position  gave  him,  and  they  were  bitter  about 
it.  He  laughed  at  them,  and  he  thrashed  the  man  who 


304  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

complained  loudest,  a  man  who  had  lost  every  cent  of 
his  money  through  Allison's  manipulations.  Well,  that 
was  the  way  of  business.  The  old  rule  of  conquest  that 
might  makes  right  had  only  gone  out  of  favour  as  ap 
plied  to  physical  oppression.  In  everything  else,  it 
still  prevailed ;  and  Allison  was  its  chief  exponent. 

The  years  of  manhood.  The  panorama  was  a  swiftly 
moving  one  now.  Combinations  and  consolidations  had 
followed  closely  one  upon  the  other;  brilliant  and  be 
wildering  shiftings  of  the  pieces  on  the  chess  board  of 
his  particular  business.  Other  players  had  become  con 
fused  in  all  these  kaleidoscopic  changes,  some  of  which 
had  seemed  meaningless ;  but  not  Allison.  Every  shift 
left  him  in  a  position  of  more  ruthless  advantage,  even 
in  those  moves  which  were  intended  only  to  create  con 
fusion  ;  and  he  pushed  steadily  forward  towards  the 
one  mark  he  had  set ;  that  there  should  eventually  be 
none  other  in  the  field  than  himself!  It  was  because 
he  never  flagged  that  he  could  do  this.  At  no  summit 
had  he  ever  paused  for  gratification  over  the  extent  of 
his  climb,  for  a  backward  glance  over  his  fiercely  con 
tended  pathway,  for  refreshment,  for  breath ;  but,  with 
that  exhaustless  physical  vitality  inherited  from  his 
father  and  mental  vitality  inherited  from  his  mother, 
he  had  kept  his  pace  forward,  plunging  onward,  from 
summit  to  still  higher  summit,  and  never  asking  that 
there  might  be  one  highest  peak  to  which  he  could  at 
tain,  and  rest !  True,  sometimes  he  had  thought,  on 
the  upward  way,  that  at  the  summit  he  might  pause, 
but  had  that  summit  been  the  highest,  with  none  other 
luring  him  in  the  distant  sky,  he  would  have  been  dis 
appointed. 

So  it  was  that  he  had  come  this  far,  and  the  roadway 
to  his  present  height  was  marked  by  the  cripples  he  had 


GAIL  FIRST!  305 

left  behind  him,  without  compunction,  without  mercy, 
without  compassion.  Bankrupts  strewed  his  way, 
broken  men  of  purpose  higher  than  his  own,  useful  fac 
tors  in  the  progress  of  human  life,  builders  and  creators 
who  had  advanced  the  interest  of  the  commonwealth, 
but  who  had  been  more  brilliant  in  construction  than 
they  had  been  in  reaping  the  rewards  of  their  building. 
It  was  for  Allison  to  do  this.  It  had  been  his  specialty  ; 
the  reaping  of  rewards.  It  had  been  his  faculty  to  per 
mit  others  to  build,  to  encourage  them  in  it,  and  then, 
when  the  building  was  done,  to  wrest  it  away  from  the 
builders.  That  marked  him  as  the  greatest  commer 
cial  genius  of  his  time;  and  he  had  much  applause 
for  it. 

Women.  Yes,  there  had  been  women,  creatures  of  a 
common  mould  with  whom  he  had  amused  himself,  had 
taken  them  in  their  freshness,  and  broken  them,  and 
thrown  them  away ;  this  in  his  earlier  years.  But  in 
his  maturity,  he  had  bent  all  his  strength  to  a  greater 
passion ;  the  acquirement  of  all  those  other  things  which 
men  had  wanted  and  held  most  dear,  among  them  ac 
quisition,  and  power,  and  success.  Perhaps  it  had  been 
bad  for  him,  this  concentration,  for  now  it  left  him,  at 
the  height  of  his  maturity,  with  mistaken  fancies,  with 
long  pent  fires,  with  disproportionate  desires.  Bring 
ing  to  these,  he  had  the  tremendously  abnormal  moral 
effect  of  never  having  been  thwarted  in  a  thing  upon 
which  he  had  set  his  mind,  and  of  believing,  by  past 
accomplishment,  that  anything  upon  which  he  had  set 
his  wish  must  be  his,  or  else  every  victory  he  had  ever 
gained  would  be  swept  aside  and  made  of  no  value.  He 
must  accomplish,  or  die ! 

He  was  without  God,  this  man ;  he  had  nothing  within 
him  which  conceded,  for  a  moment,  a  greater  power 


3o6  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

than  his  own.  In  all  his  mental  imagery,  which  was 
rich  enough  in  material  things,  there  was  no  conception 
of  a  Deity,  or  of  a  need  for  one.  To  what  should  he 
pray,  and  for  what,  when  he  had  himself  to  rely  upon? 
Worship  was  an  idealistic  diversion,  a  poetic  illusion, 
the  refuge  of  the  weak,  who  excused  their  lack  of 
strength  by  ascribing  it  to  a  mysterious  something  be 
yond  the  control  of  any  man.  He  tolerated  the  popu 
lar  notion  that  there  must  be  a  God,  as  he  tolerated 
codes  of  social  ethics ;  the  conventions  which  laid 
down,  for  instance,  what  a  gentleman  might  or  might 
not  do,  externally,  and  still  remain  a  gentleman.  In 
the  meantime,  if  a  man-made  law  came  between  him  and 
the  accomplishment  of  his  ends,  he  broke  it,  without  a 
trace  of  thought  that  he  might  be  wrong.  Laws  were 
the  mutual  safeguard  of  the  weak,  to  protect  themselves 
against  the  encroachment  of  the  strong;  and  it  was  in 
the  equally  natural  province  of  the  strong  to  break 
down  those  safeguards.  In  the  same  way  he  disre 
garded  moral  laws.  They,  too,  were  for  the  upholding 
of  the  weak,  and  the  mere  fact  that  they  existed  was 
proof  enough  that  they  were  an  acknowledgment  of  the 
right  of  the  strong  to  break  them. 

There  is  a  mistake  here.  It  lies  in  the  statement 
that  Allison  recognised  no  God.  He  did.  Allison. 
Not  Allison,  the  man,  but  the  unconquerable  will  of  Al 
lison,  a  will  which  was  a  divinity  in  itself.  He  believed 
in  it,  centred  on  it  all  his  faith,  poured  out  to  it  all  the 
fervidness  of  his  heart,  of  his  mind,  of  his  spirit,  of  his 
body.  He  worshipped  it ! 

So  it  was  that  he  came  to  the  consideration  of  the 
one  thing  which  had  attempted  to  deny  itself  to  him. 
Gail !  It  seemed  monstrous  to  him  that  she  had  set 


GAIL  FIRST!  307 

herself  against  him.  It  was  incredible  that  she  should 
have  a  will,  which,  if  she  persisted,  should  prove  superior 
to  his  own.  Why,  he  had  set  his  mind  upon  her  from 
the  first!  The  time  had  suddenly  arrived  when  he  was 
ripe  for  her,  and  she  had  come.  He  had  not  even  given 
a  thought  to  the  many  suitors  who  had  dangled  about 
her.  She  was  for  none  of  them.  She  was  for  him,  and 
he  had  waited  in  patience  until  she  was  tired  of  amusing 
herself,  and  until  he  had  wrought  the  big  ambition  to 
wards  which  her  coming,  and  her  impulse,  and  the  new 
fire  she  had  kindled  in  him,  had  directed  him.  She  had 
been  seriously  in  earnest  in  withholding  herself  from 
him.  She  was  determined  upon  it.  She  believed  now, 
in  her  soul,  that  she  could  keep  to  that  determination. 
At  first  he  had  been  amused  by  it,  as  a  man  holds  off 
the  angry  onslaught  of  a  child ;  but,  in  this  last  inter 
view  with  her,  there  had  come  a  moment  when  he  had 
felt  his  vast  compulsion  valueless ;  and  it  had  angered  • 
him. 

A  flame  raged  through  his  veins  which  fairly  shook 
him  with  its  violence.  It  was  not  only  the  reflex  of  his 
determination  to  have  her,  but  it  was  the  terrific  need 
of  her  which  had  grown  up  in  him.  Have  her?  Of 
course  he  would  have  her!  If  she  would  not  come  to 
him  willingly,  he  would  take  her !  If  she  could  not 
share  in  the  ecstasy  of  possession  which  he  had  so  long 
anticipated,  she  need  not.  She  was  not  to  be  considered 
in  it  any  more  than  he  had  considered  any  other  ad 
verse  factor  in  the  attainment  of  anything  he  had  de 
sired.  He  was  possessed  of  a  rage  now,  which  centred 
itself  upon  one  object,  and  one  alone.  Gail!  She  was 
his  new  summit,  his  new  peak,  the  final  one  where  he 
had  planned  to  rest ;  but  now  his  angry  thought  was  to 


308  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

attain  it,  and  spurn  it,  broken  and  crumbled,  as  had 
been  all  the  other  barriers  to  his  will,  and  press  ruth 
lessly  onward  into  higher  skies,  he  knew  not  where.  It 
was  no  time  now,  to  think  on  that.  Gail  first! 


CHAPTER  XXX 

THE    FLUTTER    OF    A    SHEET    OF    MUSIC 

GAIL,  in  a  pretty  little  rose-coloured  morning  robe, 
with  soft  frills  of  lace  around  her  white  throat 
and  at  her  white  elbows,  sat  on  the  floor  of  the  music 
room  amid  a  chaos  of  sheet  music.  She  was  humming 
a  gay  little  song  suggested  by  one  of  the  titles  through 
which  she  had  leafed,  and  was  gradually  sorting  her 
music  for  the  yacht  party ;  instrumental  pieces  here, 
popular  things  there,  another  little  pile  of  old-fashioned 
glees  which  the  assembled  crowd  might  sing,  just  here 
a  little  stack  of  her  own  solos,  nearby  the  rector's  fa 
vourites,  between  the  two  their  duets.  It  was  her  part 
in  one  of  the  latter  she  was  humming  now,  missing,  as 
she  sang,  the  strong  accompaniment  of  the  Reverend 
Smith  Boyd's  mellow  voice.  She  was  more  peaceful  this 
morning  than  she  had  been  for  many  days. 

The  butler  came  through  the  hall,  and  Gail  looked 
up  with  a  suppressed  giggle  as  she  saw  him  pass  the 
door.  She  always  had  an  absurd  idea  that  his  hinges 
should  be  oiled. 

"  Miss  Gail  is  not  at  home,  sir,"  she  heard  the  butler 
say,  and  Gail  paused  with  a  sheet  of  music  suspended 
in  her  hand,  the  whole  expression  of  her  face  changing. 
She  had  only  given  instructions  that  one  person  should 
receive  that  invariable  message. 

"  I  beg  your  pardon,  sir !  "  was  the  next  observation 

309 


310  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Gail  heard,  in  a  tone  of  as  near  startled  remonstrance 
as  was  possible  to  the  butler's  wooden  voice. 

There  was  a  sound  almost  as  of  a  scuffle,  and  then 
Allison,  with  his  top  coat  on  his  arm  and  his  hat  in  his 
hand,  strode  to  the  doorway  of  the  music  room,  followed 
immediately  by  the  butler,  who  looked  as  if  his  hair 
had  been  peeled  a  little  at  the  edges.  Allison  had  ap 
parently  brushed  roughly  past  him,  and  had  disturbed 
his  equanimity  for  the  balance  of  his  life. 

Gail  was  on  her  feet  almost  instantaneously  with  the 
apparition  in  the  doorway,  and  she  still  held  the  sheet 
of  music  which  she  had  been  about  to  deposit  on  one 
of  the  piles.  Allison's  eyes  had  a  queer  effect  of  being 
sunken,  and  there  was  a  strange  nervous  tension  in  him. 
Gail  dismissed  the  butler  with  a  nod. 

"  You  were  informed  that  I  am  not  at  home,"  she 
said. 

"  I  meant  to  see  you,"  he  replied,  with  a  certain  de 
termined  insolence  in  his  tone  which  she  could  not  es 
cape.  There  was  a  triumph  in  it,  too,  as  if  his  having 
swept  the  butler  aside  were  only  a  part  of  his  imperious 
intention.  "  I  have  some  things  to  say  to  you  to  which 
you  must  listen." 

"  You  had  better  say  them  all  then,  because  this  is 
your  last  opportunity,"  she  told  him,  pale  with  anger, 
and  with  a  quaver  in  her  voice  which  she  would  have 
given  much  to  suppress. 

He  cast  on  her  a  look  which  blazed.  He  had  not 
slept  since  he  had  seen  her  last.  He  smiled,  and  the 
smile  was  a  snarl,  displaying  his  teeth.  Something 
more  than  anger  crept  into  Gail's  pallor. 

"  I  have  come  to  ask  you  again  to  marry  me,  Gail. 
The  matter  is  too  vital  to  be  let  pass  without  the  most 
serious  effort  of  which  I  am  capable.  I  can  not  do 


A  SHEET  OF  MUSIC  311 

without  you.  I  have  a  need  for  you  which  is  greater 
than  anything  of  which  you  could  conceive.  I  come 
to  you  humbly,  Gail,  to  ask  you  to  reconsider  your 
hasty  answer  of  last  night.  I  want  you  to  marry  me." 

For  just  a  moment  his  eyes  had  softened,  and  Gail 
felt  a  slight  trace  of  pity  for  him ;  but  in  the  pity  itself 
there  was  revulsion. 

"  I  can  not,"  she  told  him. 

"You  must!"  he  immediately  rejoined.  "As  I 
would  build  up  an  empire  to  win  you,  I  would  destroy 
one  to  win  you.  You  spoke  last  night  of  what  you 
called  the  cruelty  and  trickery  of  the  building  up  of  my 
big  transportation  monopoly.  If  it  is  that  which  stands 
between  us,  it  shall  not  do  so  for  a  moment  longer. 
Marry  me,  and  I  will  stop  it  just  where  it  is.  Why, 
I  only  built  this  for  you,  and  if  you  don't  like  it,  I  shall 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it."  In  that  he  lied,  and  con 
sciously.  He  knew  that  the  moment  he  had  made  sure 
of  her  his  ambition  to  conquer  would  come  uppermost 
again,  and  that  he  would  pursue  his  dream  of  conquest 
with  even  more  ardour  than  before,  because  he  had  been 
refreshed. 

"  That  would  make  no  difference,  Mr.  Allison,"  she 
replied.  "  I  told  you,  last  night,  that  I  would  not 
marry  you  because  I  do  not,  and  could  not,  love  you. 
There  does  not  need  to  be  any  other  reason."  There 
was  in  her  an  inexplicable  tension,  a  reflex  of  his  own, 
but,  though  her  face  was  still  pale,  she  stood  very 
calmly  before  him. 

The  savageness  which  was  in  him,  held  too  long  in 
leash,  sprang  into  his  face,  his  eyes,  his  lips,  the  set 
of  his  jaws.  He  advanced  a  step  towards  her.  His 
hands  contracted. 

"  I  shall  not  again  ask  you  to  love  me,"  he  harshly 


312  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

stated ;  "  but  you  must  marry  me.  I  have  ma'1?  up 
my  mind  to  that." 

"  Impossible !  "     Angry  now  and  contemptuous. 

**  I'll  make  you !  There  is  no  resource  I  will  not  use. 
I'll  bankrupt  your  family.  I'll  wipe  it  off  the  earth." 

Gail's  nails  were  pressing  into  her  palms.  She  felt 
that  her  lips  were  cold.  Her  eyes  were  widening,  as 
the  horror  of  him  began  to  grow  on  her.  He  was  glar 
ing  at  her  now,  and  there  was  no  attempt  to  conceal  the 
savage  cruelty  on  his  face. 

"  I'll  compromise  you,"  he  went  on.  "  I'll  connect 
your  name  with  mine  in  such  a  way  that  marriage  with 
me  will  be  your  only  resource.  I'll  be  an  influence  you 
can't  escape.  There  will  not  be  a  step  you  can  take  in 
which  you  will  not  feel  that  I  am  the  master  of  it. 
Marry  you?  I'll  have  you  if  it  takes  ten  years!  I'll 
have  no  other  end  in  life.  I'll  put  into  that  one  pur 
pose  all  the  strength,  and  all  the  will  that  I  have  put 
into  the  accomplishment  of  everything  which  I  have 
done ;  and  the  longer  you  delay  me  the  sooner  I'll  break 
you  when  I  do  get  you." 

Out  of  her  very  weakness  had  come  strength;  out  of 
her  overwhelming  humiliation  had  come  pride,  and 
though  the  blood  had  left  her  face  waxen  and  cold, 
something  within  her  discovered  a  will  which  was  as 
strong  in  resistance  as  his  was  in  attack.  She  knew 
it,  and  trembled  in  the  knowledge  of  it. 

"  You  can't  make  me  marry  you,"  she  said,  with  in 
finite  scorn  and  contempt. 

He  clenched  his  fists  and  gritted  his  teeth.  Into  his 
eyes  there  sprang  a  blaze  which  she  had  never  before 
seen,  but  dimly,  in  the  eyes  of  any  man ;  but  she  needed 
no  experience  to  tell  her  its  despicable  meaning.  His 
lips,  which  had  been  snarling,  suddenly  took  a  down- 


A  SHEET  OF  MUSIC  313 

ward  twitch,  and  were  half  parted.  His  nostrils  were 
distended,  and  the  blood,  flooding  into  his  face,  empur 
pled  it. 

"  Then  I'll  have  you  anyhow !  "  he  hoarsely  told  her, 
and,  his  arms  tensed  and  his  head  slightly  lowered  for 
ward,  he  made  as  if  to  advance  toward  her.  He  saw 
in  her  frightened  eyes  that  she  would  scream,  but  he  did 
not  know  that  at  that  moment  she  could  not.  Her 
heart  seemed  to  have  lost  its  action,  and  she  stood,  trem 
bling,  faint,  in  the  midst  of  her  strewn  music,  with  the 
sensation  that  the  room  was  turning  dark. 

The  house  was  very  quiet.  Mrs.  Sargent  and  Mrs. 
Davies  were  upstairs.  The  servants  were  all  in  the 
rear  of  the  house,  or  below,  or  in  the  upper  rooms,  at 
their  morning  work.  He  turned  swiftly  and  closed  the 
door  of  the  music  room,  then  he  whirled  again  towards 
her,,  with  ferocity  in  his  eyes.  He  came  slowly,  every 
movement  of  him  alive  with  ponderous  strength.  He 
was  a  maniac.  He  was  insane.  He  was  frenzied  by 
one  mad  thought  which  had  swept  out  of  his  universe 
every  other  consideration,  and  the  glut  to  kill  was  no 
more  fearful  than  the  purpose  which  possessed  him 
now. 

Gail,  standing  slight,  fragile,  her  brown  eyes  staring, 
her  brown  hair  dishevelled  about  her  white  brow,  felt 
every  atom  of  strength  leaving  her,  devoured  in  the 
overwhelming  might  of  this  monstrous  creature.  The 
sheet  of  music,  which  she  had  been  holding  all  this  time, 
dropped  from  her  nerveless  fingers  and  fluttered  to  the 
floor! 

That  noise,  slight  as  it  was,  served  to  arrest  the 
progress  of  the  man  for  just  an  instant.  He  was  in  no 
frame  to  reason,  but  some  instinct  urged  him  to  speed. 
He  crouched  slightly,  as  a  wild  beast  might.  But  the 


THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

flutter  of  that  sheet  of  music  had  done  more  for  Gail 
than  it  had  for  him.  It  had  loosed  the  paralysis  which 
had  held  her,  had  broken  the  fascination  of  horror  with 
which  she  had  been  spellbound.  Just  behind  her  was 
a  low  French  window  which  led  to  a  small  side  balcony. 
With  one  bound  she  burst  this  open,  she  did  not  know 
how,  and  had  leaped  over  the  light  balcony  rail,  and 
ran  across  the  lawn  to  the  rectory  gate,  up  the  steps 
and  into  the  side  door,  and  into  the  study,  where  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  sat  toiling  over  a  sermon. 


CHAPTER  XXXI 

GAIL,    BREAKS    A    PROMISE 

THE  Whitecap  would  have  been  under  way  except 
for  the  delay  of  the  gay  little  Mrs.  Babbitt  and 
her  admiring  husband,  who  sent  word  that  they  could 
not  arrive  until  after  dinner,  so  the  yacht,  long  and 
low  and  slender  and  glistening  white,  lay  in  the  middle 
of  the  Hudson  River,  while  her  guests,  bundled  warmly 
against  the  crisp  breeze,  gathered  in  the  forward  shel 
ter  deck  and  watched  the  beginnings  of  the  early  sun 
set. 

"  I  like  Doctor  Boyd  in  his  yachting  cap,"  commented 
Lucile,  as  that  young  man  joined  them,  with  a  happy 
mother  on  his  arm. 

"  It  takes  away  that  deadly  clerical  effect,"  laughed 
Arly.  "  His  long  coat  makes  him  look  like  the  captain, 
and  he's  ever  so  much  more  handsome." 

"  I  don't  mind  being  the  topic  of  discussion  so  long 
as  I'm  present,"  commented  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd, 
glancing  around  the  group  as  if  in  search  of  some  one. 

"  It  rather  restricts  the  conversation,"  Mrs.  Helen 
Davies  observed,  at  the  same  time  watching,  with  a  smile, 
the  tableau  of  her  sister  Grace  and  Jim  Sargent.  Gail 
and  herself  had  taken  Grace  out  shopping,  and  had 
forced  on  her  sedate  taste  a  neat  and  "  fetching  "  yacht 
ing  costume,  from  flowing  veiled  cap  to  white  shoes, 
which  had  dropped  about  twenty  years  from  her  usual 


3i6  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

appearance,  and  had  brought  a  renewed  enthusiasm  to 
the  eyes  of  her  husband. 

The  cherub-cheeked  Marion  Kenneth  glanced  wist 
fully  over  at  the  rail  where  Dick  Rodley,  vicing  with 
the  sunset  in  splendour,  stood  chatting  with  easy  Ted 
Teasdale  and  the  stiff  Gerald  Fosland. 

"Where's  Gail?"  demanded  the  cherub-cheeked  one. 

"  It's  time  that  young  lady  was  up  on  deck,"  decided 
Arly,  and  rose. 

"  She's  probably  taking  advantage  of  the  oppor 
tunity  to  dress  for  dinner,"  surmised  Mrs.  Davies.  "  In 
fact,  I  think  it's  a  good  idea  for  all  of  us,"  but  the  sun 
set  was  too  potent  to  leave  for  a  few  moments,  and  she 
sat  still. 

Where  indeed  was  Gail?  In  her  beautiful  little  curly 
maple  stateroom,  sitting  on  the  edge  of  a  beautiful  little 
curly  maple  bed,  and  digging  two  small  fists  into  the 
maple-brown  coverlet.  The  pallor  of  the  morning  had 
not  yet  left  her  face,  and  there  were  circles  around  the 
brown  eyes  which  gave  them  a  wan  pathos ;  there  was  a 
crease  of  pain  and  worry,  too,  in  the  white  brow. 

Gail  had  come  to  the  greatest  crisis  in  her  life.  To 
begin  with,  Allison.  She  would  not  permit  herself  to 
dwell  on  the  most  horrible  part  of  her  experience  with 
him.  That  she  put  out  of  her  mind,  as  best  she  could, 
with  a  shudder.  She  hoped,  in  the  time  to  come,  to  be 
free  of  the  picture  of  him  as  he  advanced  slowly  to 
wards  her  in  the  music  room,  with  that  frenzied  glare  in 
his  eyes  and  that  terrifying  evil  look  upon  his  face. 
She  hoped,  in  the  time  to  come,  to  be  free  of  that  awful 
fear  which  seemed  to  have  gripped  her  heart  with  a 
clutch  that  had  left  deep  imprints  upon  it,  but,  just 
now,  she  let  the  picture  and  the  fear  remain  before  her 


GAIL  BREAKS  A  PROMISE          317 

eyes  and  in  her  heart,  and  centred  upon  her  grave  re 
sponsibilities. 

So  far  she  had  told  no  one  of  what  had  occurred  that 
morning.  When  she  had  rushed  into  the  rector's  study 
he  had  sprung  up,  and,  seeing  the  fright  in  her  face 
and  that  she  was  tottering  and  ready  to  fall,  he  had 
caught  her  in  his  strong  arms,  and  she  had  clung  trust 
fully  to  him,  half  faint,  until  wild  sobs  had  come  to  her 
relief.  Even  in  her  incoherence,  however,  even  in  her 
wild  disorder  of  emotion,  she  realised  that  there  was 
danger,  not  only  to  her  but  to  every  one  she  loved,  in 
the  man  from  whom  she  had  run  away;  and  she  could 
not  tell  the  young  rector  any  more  than  that  she  had 
been  frightened.  Had  she  so  much  as  mentioned  the 
name  of  Allison,  she  instinctively  knew  that  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  in  whom  there  was  some  trace  of 
impetuosity,  might  certainly  have  forgotten  his  cloth 
and  become  mere  man,  and  have  strode  straight  across 
to  the  house  before  Allison  could  have  collected  his 
dazed  wits ;  and  she  did  not  dare  add  that  encounter  to 
her  list  of  woes.  It  was  strange  how  instinctively  she 
had  headed  for  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd's  study; 
strange  then,  but  not  now.  In  that  moment  of  flying 
straight  to  the  protection  of  his  arms,  she  knew  some 
thing  about  herself,  and  about  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  too.  She  knew  now  why  she  had  refused  How 
ard  Clemmens,  and  Willis  Cunningham,  and  Houston 
Van  Ploon,  and  Dick  Rodley ;  poor  Dick !  and  Allison, 
and  all  the  others.  She  frankly  and  complacently  ad 
mitted  to  herself  that  she  loved  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  but  she  put  that  additional  worry  into  the  back 
ground.  It  could  be  fought  out  later.  She  would  have 
been  very  happy  about  it  if  she  had  had  time,  although 


3i8  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

she  could  see  no  end  to  that  situation  but  unhappi- 
ness. 

These  threats  of  Allison's.  How  far  could  he  go 
with  them,  how  far  could  he  make  them  true?  All  the 
way.  She  had  a  sickening  sense  that  there  was  no  idle 
ness  in  his  threats.  He  had  both  the  will  and  the  power 
to  carry  them  out.  He  would  bankrupt  her  family ; 
he  would  employ  slander  against  her,  from  which  the 
innocent  have  less  defence  than  the  guilty ;  he  would 
set  himself  viciously  to  wreck  her  happiness  at  every 
turn.  The  long  arm  of  his  vindictiveness  would  follow 
her  to  her  home,  and  set  a  barrier  of  scandalous  report 
even  between  her  and  her  friends. 

But  let  her  first  take  up  the  case  of  her  Uncle  Jim. 
She  had  not  dared  go  with  her  news  to  hot-tempered 
Jim  Sargent.  His  first  impulse  would  have  been  one  of 
violence,  and  she  could  not  see  that  a  murder  on  her 
soul,  and  her  Uncle  Jim  in  jail  as  a  murderer,  and  her 
name  figuring  large,  with  her  photograph  in  the  pages 
of  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  metropolitan  press, 
would  help  any  one  in  the  present  dilemma.  Yet  even 
a  warning,  to  her  Uncle  Jim,  of  impending  financial 
danger  might  bring  about  this  very  same  result,  for 
he  had  a  trick  of  turning  suddenly  from  the  kind  and 
indulgent  and  tremendously  admiring  uncle,  into  a 
stern  parent,  and  firing  one  imperative  question  after 
another  at  her,  in  the  very  image  and  likeness  of  her 
own  father;  and  that  was  an  authoritative  process 
which  she  knew  she  could  not  resist.  Yet  Uncle  Jim 
must  be  protected!  How?  It  was  easy  enough  to  say 
that  he  must  be,  and  yet  could  he  be?  Could  he  even 
protect  himself?  She  shook  her  head  as  she  gazed,  with 
unseeing  eyes,  out  of  the  daintily  curtained  port  hole 
upon  the  river,  with  its  swarm  of  bustling  small  craft. 


GAIL  BREAKS  A  PROMISE          319 

Where  to  turn  for  advice,  or  even  to  have  a  sharer 
in  the  burden  which  she  felt  must  surely  crush  her. 
There  was  no  one.  It  was  a  burden  she  must  bear  alone, 
unless  she  could  devise  some  plan  of  effective  action, 
and  the  sense  of  how  far  she  had  been  responsible  for 
this  condition  of  affairs  was  one  which  oppressed  her, 
and  humbled  her,  and  deepened  the  circles  about  her 
woe-smitten  eyes. 

She  had  been  guilty.  In  a  rush  of  remorse  and  re 
pentance,  she  overblamed  herself.  She  did  not  allow, 
in  her  severe  self-injustice,  for  the  natural  instincts 
which  had  led  her  into  a  full  and  free  commingling  with 
all  this  new  circle ;  for,  as  Arly  later  put  it  for  her  by 
way  of  comfort,  how  was  she  to  know  if  she  did  not 
find  out.  Now,  however,  she  allowed  herself  no  grain 
of  comfort,  or  sympathy,  or  relief,  from  the  stern  self- 
arraignment  through  which  she  put  herself.  She  had 
been  wicked,  she  told  herself.  Had  she  delved  deeply 
enough  into  her  own  heart,  and  acknowledged  what  she 
saw  there,  and  had  she  abided  by  that  knowledge,  she 
could  have  spared  her  many  suitors  a  part  of  the  pain 
and  humiliation  she  had  caused  them  by  her  refusal. 
She  had  not  been  surprised  by  any  of  them.  With  the 
infliction  of  but  very  slight  pain,  she  could  have  stopped 
them  long  before  they  came  to  the  point  of  proposal, 
she  saw  that  now.  Why  had  she  not  done  so  ?  Pride ! 
That  was  the  answer.  The  pleasure  of  being  so  eagerly 
sought,  the  actually  spoken  evidence  of  her  popularity, 
and  the  flattery  of  having  aroused  in  all  these  big  men 
emotions  so  strong  that  they  took  the  sincere  form  of 
the  offering  of  a  lifetime  of  devotion.  And  she,  who 
had  prated  to  herself  so  seriously  of  marriage,  had  held 
it  as  so  sacred  a  thing,  she  had  so  toyed  with  it,  and 
had  toyed,  too,  with  that  instinct  in  these  good  men ! 


320  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

In  the  light  of  her  experience  with  Allison,  she  began 
to  distrust  her  own  sincerity,  and  for  some  minutes  she 
floundered  in  that  Slough  of  Despond. 

But  no,  out  of  that  misery  she  was  able  to  emerge 
clear  of  soul.  Her  worst  fault  had  been  folly.  An  in 
stinctive  groping  for  that  other  part  of  her,  which  na 
ture  had  set  somewhere,  unlabelled,  to  make  of  the  twain 
a  complete  and  perfect  human  entity,  had  led  her  into 
all  her  entanglements,  even  with  Allison.  And  again 
the  darkness  deepened  around  her  troubled  eyes. 

After  all,  had  she  but  known  it,  she  had  a  greater 
fault  than  folly.  Inexperience.  Her  charm  was  an 
other,  her  youth,  her  beauty,  her  virility  —  and  her 
sympathy !  These  were  her  true  faults,  and  the  ones 
for  which  every  attractive  girl  must  suffer.  There  is 
no  escape.  It  is  the  great  law  of  compensation.  Na 
ture  bestows  no  gift  of  value  for  which  she  does  not 
exact  a  corresponding  price. 

Gail  took  her  little  fists  from  their  pressure  into  the 
brown  coverlet,  and  held  her  temples  between  the  finger 
tips  of  either  hand;  and  the  brown  hair,  springing  into 
wayward  ringlets  from  the  salt-breeze  which  blew  in 
at  the  half  opened  window,  rippled  down  over  her  slen 
der  hands,  as  if  to  soothe  and  comfort  them.  She  had 
been  wasting  her  time  in  introspection  and  self-analysis 
when  there  was  need  for  decisive  action !  Fortunately 
she  had  a  respite  until  Monday  morning.  In  the  past 
few  days  of  huge  commercial  movements  which  so  vitally 
interested  her,  she  had  become  acquainted  with  business 
methods,  to  a  certain  extent,  and  she  knew  that  nothing 
could  be  done  on  Saturday  afternoon  or  Sunday ;  there 
fore  her  Uncle  Jim  was  safe  for  two  nights  and  a  day. 
Then  Allison  would  deny  the  connection  of  her  Uncle 
Jim's  road  with  the  A.-P.,  and  the  beginning  of  the  de- 


GAIL  BREAKS  A  PROMISE          321 

struction  of  the  Sargent  family  would  be  thoroughly 
accomplished!  She  had  been  given  a  thorough  grasp 
of  how  easily  that  could  be  done.  What  could  she  do 
in  two  nights  and  a  day?  It  was  past  her  ingenuity 
to  conceive.  She  must  have  help! 

But  from  whom  could  she  receive  it?  Tod  Boyd? 
The  same  reason  which  made  her  think  of  him  first  made 
her  swiftly  place  him  last.  Her  Uncle  Jim?  Too  hot 
headed.  Her  Aunt  Grace?  Too  inexperienced.  Her 
Aunt  Helen?  Too  conventional.  Lucile,  Ted,  Dick? 
She  laughed.  Arly? 

There  was  a  knock  on  her  door,  and  Arly  herself  ap 
peared. 

"  Selfish,"  chided  Arly.     "  We're  all  wanting  you." 

"That's  comforting,"  smiled  Gail.  "I  have  just 
been  being  all  alone  in  the  world,  on  the  most  absolutely 
deserted  island  of  which  you  can  conceive.  Arly,  sit 
down.  I  want  to  tell  you  something." 

The  black  hair  and  the  brown  hair  cuddled  close  to 
gether,  while  Gail,  her  tongue  once  loosened,  poured  out 
in  a  torrent  all  the  pent-up  misery  which  had  been  ac 
cumulating  within  her  for  the  past  tempestuous  weeks ; 
and  Arly,  her  eyes  glistening  with  the  excitement  of  it 
all,  kept  her  exclamations  of  surprise  and  fright  and 
indignation  and  horror,  and  everything  else,  strictly  to 
such  low  monosyllables  as  would  not  impede  the  gasp 
ing  narration. 

"  I'd  like  to  kill  him !  "  said  Arly,  in  a  low  voice  of 
startling  intensity,  and  jumping  to  her  feet  she  paced 
up  and  down  the  confines  of  the  little  stateroom.  Among 
all  the  other  surprises  of  recent  events,  there  was  none 
more  striking  than  this  vast  change  in  the  usually 
cool  and  sarcastic  Arly,  who  had  not,  until  her  return 
from  Gail's  home,  permitted  herself  an  emotion  in  two 


322  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

years.  She  came  back  to  the  bed  with  a  sudden  swift 
knowledge  that  Gail  had  been  dry-eyed  all  through  this 
recital,  though  her  lips  were  quivering.  She  should 
have  cried.  Instead  she  was  sitting  straight  up,  star 
ing  at  Arly  with  patient  inquiry.  She  had  told  all  her 
dilemma,  and  all  her  grief,  and  all  her  fear;  and  now 
she  was  waiting. 

"  The  only  way  in  which  that  person  can  be  pre 
vented  from  attacking  your  Uncle  Jim,  which  would  be 
his  first  step,  is  to  attack  him  before  he  can  do  any 
thing,"  said  Arly,  pacing  up  and  down,  her  fingers 
clasped  behind  her  slender  back,  her  black  brows  knot 
ted,  her  graceful  head  bent  toward  the  floor. 

"  He  is  too  powerful,"  protested  Gail. 

"  That  makes  him  weak,"  returned  Arly  quickly. 
"  In  every  great  power  there  is  one  point  of  great 
weakness.  Tell  me  again  about  this  tremendously  big 
world  monopoly." 

Patiently,  and  searching  her  memory  for  details,  Gail 
recited  over  again  all  which  Allison  had  told  her  about 
his  wonderful  plan  of  empire ;  and  even  now,  angry  and 
humiliated  and  terror  stricken  as  she  was,  Gail  could 
not  repress  a  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  bigness  of 
it.  It  was  that  which  had  impressed  her  in  the  begin 
ning. 

"  It's  wonderful,"  commented  Arly,  catching  a  trace 
of  that  spirit  of  the  exultation  which  hangs  upon  the  un 
folding  of  fairyland;  and  she  began  to  pace  the  floor 
again.  "  Why,  Gail,  it  is  the  most  colossal  piece  of 
thievery  the  world  has  ever  known !  "  And  she  walked 
in  silence  for  a  time.  "  That  is  the  thing  upon  which 
we  can  attack  him.  We  are  going  to  stop  it." 

Gail  rose,  too. 


GAIL  BREAKS  A  PROMISE          323 

"How?"  she  asked.  "  Arly,  we  couldn't,  just  we 
two  girls !  " 

"  Why  not  ?  "  demanded  Arly,  stopping  in  front  of 
her.  "  Any  plan  like  that  must  be  so  full  of  criminal 
crookedness  that  exposure  alone  is  enough  to  put  an 
end  to  it." 

"  Exposure,"  faltered  Gail,  and  struggled  automatic 
ally  with  a  life-long  principle.  "  It  was  told  to  me  in 
confidence." 

Arly  looked  at  her  in  astonishment. 

"  I  could  shake  you,"  she  declared,  and  instead  put 
her  arm  around  Gail.  "  Did  that  person  betray  no 
confidence  when  he  came  to  your  uncle's  house  this  morn 
ing!  Moreover,  he  told  you  this  merely  to  over-awe 
you  with  the  glitter  of  what  he  had  done.  He  made  that 
take  the  place  of  love !  Confidence !  I'll  never  do  any 
thing  with  so  much  pleasure  in  my  life  as  to  betray 
yours  right  now !  If  you  don't  expose  that  person,  I 
will!  If  there's  any  way  we  can  damage  him,  I  intend 
to  see  that  it  is  done ;  and  if  there's  any  way  after 
that  to  damage  him  again  and  again,  I  want  to  do 
it!" 

For  the  first  time  in  that  miserable  day,  Gail  felt  a 
thrill  of  hope,  and  Arly,  at  that  moment,  had,  to  her, 
the  aspect  of  a  colossal  figure,  an  angel  of  brightness 
in  the  night  of  her  despair!  She  felt  that  she  could 
afford  to  sob  now,  and  she  did  it. 

"  Do  you  suppose  that  would  save  Uncle  Jim?  "  she 
asked,  when  they  had  both  finished  a  highly  comforting 
time  together. 

"  It  will  save  everybody,"  declared  Arly. 
"  I  hope  so,"  pondered  Gail.     "  But  we  can't  do  it 
ourselves,  Arly.     Whom  shall  we  get  to  help  us?" 


324  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

The  smile  on  Arly's  face  was  a  positive  illumination 
for  a  moment,  and  then  she  laughed. 

"  Gerald,"  she  replied.  "  You  don't  know  what  a 
dear  he  is !,"  and  she  rang  for  a  cabin  boy. 


CHAPTER  XXXII 

GERALD    FOSLAND    MAKES    A    SPEECH 

GERALD  FOSLAND,  known  to  be  so  formal  that 
he  had  once  dressed  to  answer  an  emergency  call 
from  a  friend  at  the  hospital,  because  the  message  came 
in  at  six  o'clock,  surprised  his  guests  by  appearing  be 
fore  them,  in  the  salon  just  before  dinner,  in  his  driving 
coat  and  with  his  motor  cap  in  his  hand. 

"  Sorry,"  he  informed  them,  with  his  stiff  bow,  "  but 
an  errand  of  such  importance  that  it  can  not  be  de 
layed,  causes  Mrs.  Fosland  and  myself  to  return  to  the 
city  immediately  for  an  hour  or  so.  I  am  sincerely 
apologetic,  and  I  trust  that  you  will  have  a  jolly  din 
ner." 

"Is  Gail  going  with  you?"  inquired  the  alert  Mrs. 
Helen  Davies,  observing  Gail  in  the  gangway  adjust 
ing  her  furs. 

"  She  has  to  chaperon  me,  while  Gerald  is  busy," 
Arly  glibly  explained.  "  Onery,  Orey,  Ickery,  Ann, 
Filison,  Foloson,  Nicholas,  John ;  Queevy,  Quavy,  Eng 
lish  Navy,  Stigalum,  Stagalum,  Buck.  You're  it,  Aunt 
Grace,"  counted  out  Arly.  "  You  and  Uncle  Jim  have 
to  be  hosts.  Good-bye !  "  and  she  sailed  out  to  the  deck, 
followed  by  the  still  troubled  Gail,  who  managed  to  ac 
complish  the  laughing  adieus  for  which  Arly  had  set 
the  precedence. 

A  swift  ride  in  the  launch,  in  the  cool  night  air,  to 

325 


326  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  landing;  a  brisk  walk  to  the  street,  and,  since  no 
one  had  expected  to  come  ashore  until  Monday,  a  search 
for  a  taxi ;  then  Gerald,  chatting  with  correct  pleasant 
ness  through  his  submerged  preoccupation,  having  seen 
the  ladies  safe  under  shelter,  even  if  it  were  but  the  roof 
of  a  night  hawk  taxi,  stopped  at  the  first  saloon,  a  queer 
place,  of  a  sodden  type  which  he  had  never  before  seen 
and  would  never  see  again.  There  he  phoned  half  a 
dozen  messages.  There  were  four  eager  young  men 
waiting  in  the  reception  room  of  the  Fosland  house, 
when  Gerald's  party  arrived,  and  three  more  followed 
them  up  the  steps. 

Gerald  aided  in  divesting  the  ladies  of  their 
wraps,  and  slipped  his  own  big  top  coat  into  the  hands 
of  William,  and  saw  to  his  tie  and  the  set  of  his  waist 
coat  and  the  smoothness  of  his  hair,  before  he  stalked 
into  the  reception  parlour  and  bowed  stiffly. 

"  Gentlemen,"  he  observed,  giving  his  moustache  one 
last  smoothing,  "  first  of  all,  have  you  brought  with 
you  the  written  guarantees  which  I  required  from  your 
respective  chiefs,  that,  in  whatsoever  comes  from  the 
information  I  am  about  to  give  you,  the  names  of  your 
informants  shall,  under  no  circumstances,  appear  in 
print?" 

One  luckless  young  man,  a  fat-cheeked  one,  with  a 
pucker  in  the  corner  of  his  lips  where  his  cigar  should 
have  been,  was  unable  to  produce  the  necessary  docu 
ment,  and  he  was  under  a  scrutiny  too  close  to  give  him 
a  chance  to  write  it. 

"  Sorry,"  announced  Gerald,  with  polite  contrition. 
"  As  this  is  a  very  strict  condition,  I  must  ask  you  to 
leave  the  room  while  I  address  the  remaining  gentle 
men." 

The  remaining  gentlemen,  of  whom  there  were  now 


FOSLAND  MAKES  A  SPEECH       327 

eleven,  grinned  appreciatively.  Hickey  would  have 
been  the  best  newspaper  man  in  New  York  if  he  were 
not  such  a  careless  slob.  He  was  so  good  that  he  was 
the  only  man  from  the  Planet.  The  others  had  sent 
two,  and  three ;  for  Gerald's  message,  while  very  simple, 
had  been  most  effective.  He  had  merely  announced 
that  he  was  prepared  to  provide  them  with  an  interna 
tional  sensation,  involving  some  hundreds  of  billions  of 
dollars  —  and  he  had  given  his  right  name ! 

The  unfortunate  Hickey  made  a  violent  pretence  of 
search  through  all  his  pockets. 

"  I  must  have  lost  it,"  he  piteously  declared. 
"  Won't  you  take  my  written  word  that  you  won't  be 
mentioned  ?  "  and  he  looked  up  at  the  splendidly  erect 
Gerald  with  that  honest  appeal  in  his  eyes  which  had 
deceived  so  many. 

"  Sorry,"  announced  Gerald ;  "  but  it  wouldn't  be 
sportsmanlike,  since  it  would  be  quite  unfair  to  these 
other  gentlemen." 

"Hold  the  stuff  'til  I  telephone,"  begged  Hickey. 
"  Say,  if  I  get  that  written  guarantee  up  here  in  fifteen 
minutes,  will  it  do  ?  " 

Gerald  looked  him  speculatively  in  the  eye. 

"  If  you  telephone,  and  can  then  assure  me,  on  your 
word  of  honour,  that  the  document  I  require  shall  be  in 
the  house  before  you  leave,  I  shall  permit  you  to  re 
main,"  he  decreed ;  and  Hickey  looked  him  quite  soberly 
in  the  eye  for  half  a  minute. 

"  I'll  have  it  here  all  right,"  he  decided,  and  sprang 
for  the  telephone,  and  came  back  in  three  minutes  with 
his  word  of  honour.  They  could  hear  him,  from  the 
library,  yelling,  from  the  time  he  gave  the  number  until 
he  hung  up  the  receiver,  and  if  there  was  ever  urgency 
in  a  man's  voice,  it  was  in  the  voice  of  Hickey. 


328  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Gerald  Fosland  took  a  commanding  position  in  the 
corner  of  the  room,  where  he  could  see  the  countenances 
of  each  of  the  eager  young  gentlemen  present.  He 
stood  behind  a  chair,  with  his  hands  on  the  back  of  it, 
in  his  favourite  position  for  responding  to  a  toast. 

"Gentlemen;  Edward  E.  Allison  (Twelve  young 
gentlemen  who  had  been  leaning  forward  with  strained 
interest,  and  their  mouths  half  open  to  help  them  hear, 
suddenly  jerked  bolt  upright.  The  little  squib  over 
under  the  statue  of  Diana,  dropped  his  leadpencil,  and 
came  up  with  a  purple  face.  Hickey,  with  a  notebook- 
two  inches  wide  in  one  hand,  jabbed  down  a  scratch  to 
represent  Allison)  is  about  to  complete  a  transporta 
tion  system  encircling  t]je  globe.  (The  little  squib  on 
the  end  choked  on  his  tongue.  Hickey  made  a  ring  on 
his  note  pad,  to  represent  the  globe,  and  while  he  waited 
for  the  sensation  to  subside,  put  a  buckle  on  it.)  The 
acquisition  of  the  foreign  railroads  will  be  made  possi 
ble  only  by  a  war,  which  is  already  arranged.  (The 
little  squib  got  writer's  cramp.  Hickey  waited  for  de 
tails.  The  hollow-cheeked  reporter  grabbed  for  a  ciga 
rette,  but  with  no  intention  of  lighting  it.)  The  war, 
which  will  be  between  Germany  and  France,  will  begin 
within  a  month.  France,  unable  to  raise  a  war  fund 
otherwise,  will  sell  her  railroads.  The  Russian  line  is 
already  being  taken  from  its  present  managers,  and  will 
be  turned  over  to  Allison's  world  syndicate  within  a 
week.  The  important  steamship  lines  will  become  in 
volved  in  financial  difficulties,  which  have  already  been 
set  afoot  in  England.  Following  these  events  will  come 
a  successful  rebellion  in  India,  and  the  independence  of 
all  the  British  colonies.  (The  little  squib  laid  down 
his  pencil,  and  sat  in  open-mouthed  despair.  He  was 
three  sentences  behind,  and  knew  that  he  would  be  com- 


FOSLAND  MAKES  A  SPEECH        329 

petted  to  trust  his  memory  and  his  imagination,  and 
neither  were  equal  to  this  task.  Hickey  had  seven  se 
rene  jabs  on  his  notebook,  and  was  peacefully  -framing 
his  introductory  paragraph.  A  seraphic  smile  was  on 
his  thick  lips,  and  his  softened  eyes  were  gazing  fondly 
into  the  fields  of  rich  fancy.  The  hollow-cheeked  young 
man  had  cocked  his  cigarette  perpendicularly,  and  he 
•was  writing  a  few  words  with  artistic  precision.  The 
red-headed  reporter  was  tearing  off  page  after  page  of 
his  notebook  and  stuffing  them  loosely  in  his  pocket. 
One  of  the  boys,  a  thick-breasted  one  with  large  hands, 
was  making  microscopic  notes  on  the  back  of  an  en 
velope,  and  had  plenty  of  room  to  spare.)  You  will 
probably  require  some  tangible  evidence  that  these  large 
plans  are  on  the  way  to  fulfilment.  I  call  your  atten 
tion  to  the  fact  that,  last  week,  the  Russian  Duomo  be 
gan  a  violent  agitation  over  the  removal  of  Olaf  Pe- 
trovy,  who  was  the  controller  of  the  entire  Russian  rail 
road  system.  Day  before  yesterday,  Pctrovy  was  un 
fortunately  assassinated,  and  the  agitation  in  the 
Duomo  subsided.  (Hickey  only  nodded.  His  eyes 
glowed  with  the  light  of  a  poet.  The  little  squib  sighed 
dejectedly.)  This  morning  I  read  that  France  is 
greatly  incensed  over  a  diplomatic  breach  in  the  Ger 
man  war  office;  and  it  is  commented  that  the  breach 
is  one  which  can  not  possibly  be  healed.  Kindly  take 
note  of  the  following  facts.  From  the  first  to  the  eighth 
of  this  month,  Baron  von  Slachten,  who  is  directly  re 
sponsible  for  Germany's  foreign  relations,  was  seen  in 
this  city  at  the  Fencing  Club,  under  the  incognito  of 
Henry  Brokaw.  Chevalier  Duchambeau,  director  of 
the  combined  banking  interests  of  France,  was  here  in 
that  same  week,  and  was  seen  at  the  Montparnasse 
Cercle.  He  bore  the  name  of  Andree  Tirez.  The 


330  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Grand  Duke  Jan,  of  Russia,  was  here  as  Ivan  Strolesky. 
James  Wellington  Hodge,  the  master  of  the  banking 
system  of  practically  all  the  world,  outside  the  United 
States,  was  here  as  E.  E.  Chalmers.  Prince  Nito  of 
Japan,  Yu-Hip-Lun  of  China  and  Count  Cassioni  of 
Rome,  were  here  at  the  same  time ;  and  they  all  called 
on  Edward  E.  Allison.  (Furious  writing  on  the  part 
of  all  the  young  gentlemen  except  the  little  squib  and 
Hickey;  the  former  in  an  acute  paralysis  of  body  and 
mind  and  soul,  and  Hickey  in  an  acute  ecstasy.  He  had 
symbols  down  for  all  the  foreign  gentlemen  named,  a 
pretzel  for  the  Baron,  and  had  the  local  records  of  Ivan 
Strolesky  and  Baron  von  Slachten  up  a  tree.  He  had 
seen  them  both,  and  interviewed  the  former.)  Further 
more,  gentlemen,  I  will  give  you  now  the  names  of  the 
eight  financiers,  who,  with  Edward  E.  Allison,  are  in 
terested  in  the  formation  of  the  International  Trans 
portation  Company,  which  proposes  to  control  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  These  gentlemen  are  Joseph 
G.  Clark  (the  little  squib  jumped  up  and  sat  down. 
Hickey  produced  a  long,  low  whistle  of  unbounded  joy. 
The  hollow-faced  one  jerked  the  useless  cigarette  from 
his  mouth  and  threw  it  in  the  fireplace.  The  red-headed 
reporter  laughed  hysterically,  though  he  never  stopped 
writing.  Every  young  gentleman  there  made  one  or  an 
other  sharp  physical  movement  expressive  of  his  as 
tonishment  and  delight),  Eldridge  Babbitt  (more  sensa 
tion),  W.  T.  Chisholm  (Hickey  wrote  the  rest  of  the 
list),  Richard  Haverman,  Arthur  Grandin,  Robert  E. 
Taylor,  A.  L.  Vance.  I  would  suggest  that,  if  you 
disturb  these  gentlemen  in  the  manner  which  I  have 
understood  you  to  be  quite  capable  of  doing,  you  might 
secure  from  some  one  of  them  a  trace  of  corroboration 
of  the  things  I  have  said.  This  is  all."  He  paused, 


FOSLAND  MAKES  A  SPEECH       331 

and  bowed  stiffly.  "  Gentlemen,  I  wish  to  add  one  word. 
I  thank  you  for  your  kind  attention,  and  I  desire  to 
say  that,  while  I  have  violated  to-night  several  of  the 
rules  which  I  had  believed  that  I  would  always  hold 
unbroken,  I  have  done  so  in  the  interest  of  a  justice 
which  is  greater  than  all  other  considerations.  Gen 
tlemen,  good-night." 

"  Have  you  a  good  photograph  handy  ?  "  asked  the 
squib,  awakening  from  his  trance. 

Nine  young  gentlemen  put  the  squib  right  about  that 
photograph.  Hickey  was  lost  in  the  fields  of  Elysian 
phantasy,  and  the  red-headed  reporter  was  still  writ 
ing  and  stuffing  loose  pages  in  his  pocket,  and  the  one 
with  the  beard  was  making  a  surreptitious  sketch  of 
Gerald  Fosland,  to  use  on  the  first  plausible  occasion. 
He  had  in  mind  a  special  article  on  wealthy  clubmen 
at  home. 

"Company  incorporated?"  inquired  Hickey,  who 
was  the  most  practical  poet  of  his  time. 

"  I  should  consider  that  a  pertinent  question," 
granted  Gerald.  "  Gentlemen,  you  will  pardon  me  for 
a  moment,"  and  he  bowed  himself  from  the  room. 

He  had  meant  to  ask  that  one  simple  question  and 
return,  but,  in  Arlene's  blue  room,  where  sat  two  young 
women  in  a  high  state  of  quiver,  he  had  to  make  his 
speech  all  over  again,  verbatim,  and  detail  each  inter 
ruption,  and  describe  how  they  received  the  news,  and 
answer,  several  times,  the  variously  couched  question, 
if  he  really  thought  their  names  would  not  be  men 
tioned.  It  was  fifteen  minutes  before  he  returned,  and 
he  found  the  twelve  young  gentlemen  suffering  with 
an  intolerable  itch  to  be  gone!  Five  of  the  young  men 
were  in  the  library,  quarrelling,  in  decently  low  voices, 
over  the  use  of  phone.  The  imperturbable  Hickey, 


332  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

however,  had  it,  and  he  held  on,  handing  in  a  story,  em 
bellished  and  coloured  and  frilled  and  be-ribboned  as  he 
went,  which  would  make  the  cylinders  on  the  presses 
curl  up. 

"  I  am  sorry  to  advise  you,  gentlemen,  that  I  am 
unable  to  tell  you  if  the  International  Transportation 
Company  is,  or  is  about  to  be,  incorporated,"  reported 
Gerald  gravely,  and  he  signalled  to  William  to  open 
the  front  door. 

The  air  being  too  cold,  however,  he  had  it  closed  pres 
ently,  for  now  he  was  the  centre  of  an  interrogatory 
circle  from  every  degree  of  which  came  questions  so 
sharply  pointed  that  they  seemed  to  flash  as  they  darted 
towards  him.  Gerald  Fosland  listened  to  this  babble 
of  conversation  with  a  courtesy  beautiful  to  behold,  but 
at  the  first  good  pause,  he  advised  them  that  he  had 
given  them  all  the  information  at  his  command,  and 
once  more  caused  the  door  to  be  opened;  whereupon 
the  eager  young  gentlemen,  with  the  exception  of  the 
squib,  who  was  on  his  knees  under  a  couch  looking  for 
a  lost  subway  ticket,  shook  hands  cordially  and  admir 
ingly  with  the  host  of  the  evening,  and  bulged  out  into 
the  night. 

As  the  rapt  and  enchanted  Hickey  passed  out  of 
the  door,  a  grip  like  a  pair  of  ice  tongs  caught  him  by 
the  arm,  and  drew  him  gently  but  firmly  back. 

"Sorry,"  observed  Gerald;  "but  you  don't  go." 

"  Hasn't  that  damn  boy  got  here  yet  ?  "  demanded 
Hickey,  in  an  immediate  mood  for  assassination.  He 
was  a  large  young  man,  and  defective  messenger  boys 
were  the  bane  of  his  existence. 

"  William  says  not,"  replied  Gerald. 

"  For  the  love  of  Mike,  let  me  go !  "  pleaded  Hickey. 
"  This  stuff  has  to  be  handled  while  it's  still  sizzling ! 


FOSLAND  MAKES  A  SPEECH        333 

It's  the  biggest  story  of  the  century !  That  boy'll  be 
here  any  minute." 

"  Sorry,"  regretfully  observed  Gerald ;  "  but  I  shall 
be  compelled  to  detain  you  until  he  arrives." 

"  Can't  do  it !  "  returned  the  desperate  Hickey.  "  I 
have  to  go !  "  and  he  made  a  dash  for  the  door. 

Once  more  the  ice  tongs  clutched  him  by  the  shoulder 
and  sank  into  the  flesh. 

"  If  you  try  that  again,  young  man,  I  shall  be  com 
pelled  to  thrash  you,"  stated  the  host,  again  mildly. 

Hickey  looked  at  him,  very  thoroughly.  Gerald  was  a 
slim  waisted  gentleman,  but  he  had  broad  shoulders  and 
a  depressingly  calm  eye,  and  he  probably  exercised 
twenty  minutes  every  morning  by  an  open  window,  after 
his  cold  plunge,  and  took  a  horseback  ride,  and  walked 
a  lot,  and  played  polo,  and  a  few  other  effete  things 
like  that.  Hickey  sat  down  and  waited,  and,  though 
the  night  was  cold,  he  mopped  his  brow  until  the  mes 
senger  came! 


CHAPTER  XXXIII 

CHICKEN,    OR    STEAK? 

ON  the  outbreak  of  a  bygone  rudeness  between  the 
United  States  and  Spain,  one  free  and  entirely 
uncurbed  metropolitan  paper,  unable  to  adequately  ex 
press  its  violent  emotions  on  the  subject,  utilised  its 
whole  front  page  with  the  one  word  "  War !  "  printed 
in  red  ink,  and  since  this  edition  was  jumped  off  the 
press  as  fast  as  that  word  could  be  matrixed  and  cast, 
there  was  not  another  line  anywhere  in  the  paper  about 
the  subject  which  was  so  prominently  indexed,  and  the 
read-overs  about  the  latest  briberies  and  murders  and 
scandals  had  no  beginnings  at  all.  But  that  was  good 
journalism.  The  public  had  been  expecting  war  for 
some  days.  They  knew  what  it  was  all  about,  and  here 
it  was.  They  bought  up  that  edition  with  avidity,  and 
read  the  one  word  of  news,  which  they  had  seen  from 
afar,  and  threw  down  the  paper,  satisfied. 

Now,  however,  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed,  hav 
ing  risen  most  gloriously  in  the  past  to  every  emergency, 
no  matter  how  great,  positively  floundered  in  the  very 
wealth  of  its  opportunities.  To  begin  with,  the  free 
and  entirely  uncurbed,  usually  a  unit  in  what  consti 
tuted  the  news  of  the  day,  found  itself  ignominiously 
scattered,  foozled  in  its  judgment,  inadequate  in  its 
expression  of  anything;  and  one  brilliant  head  writer, 
after  trying  in  vain  to  combine  the  diverse  elements  of 
this  uncomfortably  huge  sensation,  landed  on  the  sin- 

334 


CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK?  335 

gle  word  "  Yow ! "  and  went  out,  in  a  daze,  for  a'  drink. 
One  paper  landed  on  the  Franco-German  War  as  the 
leading  thrill  in  this  overly  rich  combination  of  news, 
one  took  up  the  greed  of  Allison,  one  featured  the  world 
monopoly,  one  the  assured  downfall  of  England,  and 
one,  that  represented  by  the  squib,  the  general  absorp 
tion  of  everything  by  the  cereal  trust. 

Saturday  night,  however,  saw  no  late  extras.  The 
"  story  "  was  too  big  to  touch  without  something  more 
tangible  than  the  word  of  even  so  substantial  a  man  as 
Gerald  Fosland ;  and  long  before  any  of  the  twelve 
eager  young  gentlemen  had  reached  the  office,  the  scout 
brigade,  hundreds  strong,  were  sniffing  over  every  trail 
and  yelping  over  every  scent. 

They  traced  the  visiting  diplomats  from  the  time  they 
had  stepped  down  their  respective  gangplanks  to  the 
time  they  walked  up  them  again.  They  besieged  and 
bombarded  and  beleaguered  the  eight  members  of  the 
International  Transportation  Company,  or  as  many  of 
them  as  they  could  locate,  and  they  even  found  their 
way  out  to  Gerald  Fosland's  yacht,  in  mad  pursuit  of 
Eldridge  Babbitt.  Here,  however,  they  were  foiled, 
for  Gerald,  ordering  the  anchor  hoist  at  the  first 
hail,  stepped  out  on  the  deck  from  his  belated  din 
ner,  and  informed  the  gentlemen  of  the  press  that  the 
rights  of  hospitality  on  his  yacht  would  be  held  in 
violate,  whereupon  he  headed  for  Sandy  Hook.  The 
scout  brigade  were  also  unable  to  locate  Joseph  G. 
Clark,  the  only  multi-millionaire  in  America  able  to 
crawl  in  a  hole  and  pull  the  hole  in  after  him,  Robert 
E.  Taylor,  who  never  permitted  anybody  but  a  per 
sonal  friend  to  speak  to  him  from  dinner  time  on,  and 
Edward  E.  Allison,  of  whom  there  had  been  no  trace 
since  noon.  They  might  just  as  well  not  have  found 


336  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  others,  for  neither  Chisholm,  nor  Haverman,  nor 
Grandin,  nor  Vance,  could  be  induced  to  make  any  ad 
missions,  be  trapped  into  a  yes  or  no,  or  grunt  in  the 
wrong  place.  They  had  grown  up  with  the  art  of  in 
terviewing,  and  had  kept  one  lap  ahead  of  it,  in  obedi 
ence  to  nature's  first  law,  which,  as  every  school  boy 
knows,  though  older  people  may  have  forgotten  it,  is 
the  law  of  self-preservation. 

Until  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  every  newspaper 
office  in  New  York  was  a  scene  of  violent  gloom. 
Throughout  all  the  city,  and  into  many  outside  nooks 
and  crannies,  were  hundreds  of  human  tentacles,  bur 
rowing  like  moles  into  the  sandy  soil  of  news,  but  un 
earthing  nothing  of  any  value.  The  world's  biggest 
sensation  was  in  those  offices,  and  they  couldn't  touch  it 
with  a  pair  of  tongs !  Nor  were  libel  suits,  or  any  such 
trivial  considerations,  in  the  minds  of  the  astute  man 
agers  of  the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed.  The  deter 
rent  was  that  the  interests  involved  were  so  large  that 
one  might  as  well  sit  on  a  keg  of  gunpowder  and  light 
it,  as  to  make  the  slightest  of  errors.  The  gentlemen 
mentioned  as  the  organisers  of  the  International  Trans 
portation  Company  collectively  owned  about  all  the 
money,  and  all  the  power,  and  all  the  law,  in  the  glori 
ously  independent  United  States  of  America;  and  if 
they  got  together  on  any  one  subject,  such  as  the 
squashing  of  a  newspaper,  for  instance,  something  calm 
and  impressive  was  likely  to  happen.  On  the  other 
hand,  if  the  interesting  story  the  free  and  entirely  un 
curbed  had  in  its  possession  were  true,  the  squashing 
would  be  reversed,  and  the  freeness  and  entirely  un- 
curbedness  would  be  still  more  firmly  seated  than  ever, 
which  is  the  paladium  of  our  national  liberties;  and 
Heaven  be  good  to  us. 


CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK?  337 

It  was  a  distressing  evening.  Whole  reams  of  copy, 
more  throbbing  than  any  fiction,  more  potent  than  any 
explosion,  more  consequential  than  any  war,  hung  on 
the  "  hold  "  hooks,  and  grew  cold !  Whole  banks  of 
galleys  of  the  same  gorgeous  stuff  stood  on  the  racks, 
set  and  revised,  and  ready  to  be  plated,  and  not  a  line 
of  it  could  be  released! 

Towards  morning  there  was  an  army  of  newspaper 
men  so  worried  and  distressed,  and  generally  consumed 
with  the  mad  passion  of  restraint,  that  there  was 
scarcely  a  fingernail  left  in  the  profession,  and  fright 
ened-eyed  copy  boys  hid  behind  doors.  Suddenly  a 
dozen  telegraph  operators,  in  as  many  offices,  jumped 
from  their  desks,  as  if  they  had  all  been  touched  at  the 
same  instant  by  a  powerful  current  from  their  instru 
ments,  and  shouted  varying  phrases,  a  composite  of 
which  would  be  nearest  expressed  by: 

"Let  'er  go!" 

It  had  been  eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  in  New  York 
when  Gerald  Fosland  had  first  given  out  his  informa 
tion,  and  at  that  moment  it  was  one  A.  M.  in  Ber 
lin.  At  three  A.  M.,  Berlin  time,  which  was  ten  p.  M. 
in  New  York,  the  Baron  von  Slachten,  who  had  been 
detained  by  an  unusual  stress  of  diplomatic  business, 
strolled  to  his  favourite  cafe.  At  three-five,  the 
Baron  von  Slachten  became  the  most  thought 
about  man  in  his  city,  but  the  metropolitan  press 
of  Berlin  is  slightly  fettered  and  more  or  less 
curbed,  and  there  are  certain  formalities  to  be  ob 
served.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  Baron 
might  have  gone  about  his  peaceful  way  for  two 
or  three  days,  had  not  a  fool  American,  in  the  adver 
tising  branch  of  one  of  the  New  York  papers,  in  an 
entire  ignorance  of  decent  formalities,  walked  straight 


338  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

out  Untcr  den  Linden,  to  Baron  von  Slachten's  favour 
ite  cafe,  and,  picking  out  the  Baron  at  a  table  with 
four  bushy-faced  friends,  made  this  cheerful  remark,  in 
the  manner  and  custom  of  journalists  in  his  native  land: 

"  Well,  Baron,  the  International  Transportation 
Company  has  confessed.  Could  you  give  me  a  few 
words  on  the  subject?  " 

The  Baron,  who  had  been  about  to  drink  a  stein  of 
beer,  set  down  his  half  leiter  and  stared  at  the  young 
man  blankly.  His  face  turned  slowly  yellow,  and  he  rose. 

"  Lass  bleiben,"  the  Baron  ordered  the  handy  per 
sons  who  were  about  to  remove  the  cheerful  advertis 
ing  representative  and  incarcerate  him  for  life,  and  then 
the  Baron  walked  stolidly  out  of  the  cafe,  and  rode 
home,  and  wrote  for  an  hour  or  so,  and  ate  a  heavy 
early  breakfast,  and  returned  to  his  study,  and  oblig 
ingly  shot  himself. 

This  was  at  seven  A.  M.,  Berlin  time,  which  was  two 
A.  M.,  in  New  York;  and  owing  to  the  nervousness  of 
an  old  woman  sen-ant,  the  news  reached  New  York  at 
three  A.  M.,  and  the  big  wheels  began  to  go  around. 

Where  was  Edward  E.  Allison?  There  was  nothing 
the  free  and  entirely  uncurbed  wanted  to  know  so  much 
as  that ;  but  the  f .  and  e.  u.  was  doomed  to  disappoint 
ment  in  that  one  desire  of  its  heart.  Even  as  he  had 
stumbled  down  the  steps  of  the  Sargent  house,  Allison 
was  aware  of  the  hideous  thing  he  had  done ;  aware, 
too,  that  Jim  Sargent  was  as  violent  as  good-natured 
men  are  apt  to  be.  This  thought,  it  must  be  said  in 
justice  to  Allison,  came  last  and  went  away  first.  It 
was  from  himself  that  he  tried  to  run  away,  when  he 
shot  his  runabout  up  through  the  Park  and  into  the 
north  country,  and,  by  devious  roads,  to  a  place  which 
had  come  to  him  as  if  by  inspiration ;  the  Willow  Club, 


CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK?  339 

which  was  only  open  in  the  summertime,  and  employed 
a  feeble  old  caretaker  in  the  winter.  To  this  haven, 
bleak  and  cold  as  his  own  numbed  soul,  Allison  drove 
in  mechanical  firmness,  and  ran  his  machine  back  into 
the  garage,  and  closed  the  doors  on  it,  and  walked 
around  to  the  kitchen,  where  he  found  old  Peabody 
smoking  a  corncob  pipe,  and  laboriously  mending  a 
pair  of  breeches. 

"  Why,  howdy,  Mr.  Allison,"  greeted  Peabody,  ris 
ing,  and  shoving  up  his  spectacles.  "  It's  a  treat  to 
see  anybody  these  days.  I  ain't  had  a  visitor  for  nigh 
onto  a  month.  There  ain't  any  provisions  in  the  house, 
but  if  you'd  like  anything  I  can  run  over  to  the  vil 
lage  and  get  it.  I  got  a  jug  of  my  own,  if  you'd  like 
a  little  snifter.  How's  things  in  the  city  ?  "  and  still 
rambling  on  with  unanswered  questions  and  miscellane 
ous  offers  and  club  grounds  information,  he  pottered  to 
the  corner  cupboard,  and  produced  his  jug,  and  poured 
out  a  glass  of  whiskey. 

"  Thanks,"  said  Allison,  and  drank  the  liquor  me 
chanically.  He  was  shuddering  with  the  cold,  but  he 
had  not  noticed  it  until  now.  He  glanced  around  the 
room  slowly  and  curiously,  as  if  he  had  not  seen  it 
before.  "  I  think  I'll  stay  out  here  over  night,"  he  told 
Peabody.  "  I'll  occupy  the  office.  If  any  one  rings 
the  phone,  don't  answer." 

"Yes-sir,"  replied  Peabody.  "Tell  you  what  I'll 
do,  Mr.  Allison.  I'll  muffle  the  bell.  I  guess  I  better 
light  a  fire  in  the  office." 

"  Eh?     Yes.     Oh  yes.     Yes,  you  might  light  a  fire." 

"  Get  you  a  nice  chicken  maybe." 

"Eh?     Yes.     Oh  yes.     Yes." 

"  Chicken  or  steak?     Or  maybe  some  chops." 

"  Anything  you  like,"  and  Allison  went  towards  the 


340  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

office.  At  the  door  he  turned.  "  You'll  understand, 
Peabody,  that  I  have  come  here  to  be  quiet.  I  wish 
to  be  entirely  alone,  with  certain  important  matters 
which  I  must  decide.  If  anybody  should  happen  to 
drop  in,  get  rid  of  him.  Do  not  say  that  I  am  here 
or  have  been  here." 

"  Yes-sir,"  replied  Peabody.  "  I  know  how  it  is  that 
away.  I  want  to  be  by  myself,  often.  Shall  I  make 
up  the  bed  in  the  east  room  or  the  west  room?  Seems 
to  me  the  west  room  is  a  little  pleasanter." 

Allison  went  into  the  office,  and  closed  the  door  after 
him.  It  was  damp  and  chill  in  there,  but  he  did  not 
notice  it.  He  sat  down  in  the  swivel  chair  behind  the 
flat  top  desk,  and  rested  his  chin  in  his  hands,  and  stared 
out  of  the  window  at  the  bleak  and  dreary  landscape. 
Just  within  his  range  of  vision  was  a  lonely  little  creek, 
shadowed  by  a  mournful  drooping  willow  which  had 
given  the  Club  its  name,  and  in  the  wintry  breeze  it 
waved  its  long  tendrils  against  the  leaden  grey  sky. 
Allison  fixed  his  eyes  on  that  oddly  beckoning  tree,  and 
strove  to  think.  Old  Peabody  came  pottering  in,  and 
with  many  a  clang  and  clatter  builded  a  fire  in  the  ca 
pacious  Dutch  stove;  with  a  longing  glance  at  Allison, 
for  he  was  starved  with  the  hunger  of  talk,  he  went  out 
again. 

At  dusk  he  once  more  opened  the  door.  Allison  had 
not  moved.  He  still  sat  with  his  chin  in  his  hands, 
looking  out  at  that  weirdly  waving  willow.  Old  Pea- 
body  thought  that  he  must  be  asleep,  until  he  tiptoed 
up  at  the  side.  Allison's  grey  eyes,  unblinking,  were 
staring  straight  ahead,  with  no  expression  in  them.  It 
was  as  if  they  had  turned  to  glass. 

"  Excuse   me,   Mr.    Allison.     Chicken    or   steak  ?     I 


CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK?  341 

got  'em  both,  one  for  supper  and  one  for  breakfast." 

Allison  turned  slowly,  part  way  towards  Peabody; 
not  entirely. 

"  Chicken  or  steak  ?  "  repeated  Peabody. 

"Eh?     Yes.     Oh  yes.     Yes.     The  chicken." 

The  fire  had  gone  out.  Peabody  rebuilt  it.  He 
came  in  an  hour  later,  and  studied  the  silent  man  at 
the  desk  for  a  long  minute,  and  then  he  decided  an  im 
portant  question  for  himself.  He  brought  in  Allison's 
dinner  on  a  tray,  and  set  it  on  a  corner  of  the  desk. 

"Shall  I  spread  a  cloth?" 

"  No,"  returned  Allison.  The  clatter  had  aroused 
him  for  the  moment,  and  Peabody  went  away  with  a 
very  just  complaint  that  if  he  had  to  be  bothered  with 
a  visitor  on  a  grey  day  like  this,  he'd  rather  not  have 
such  an  unsociable  cuss. 

At  eleven  Peabody  came  in  again,  to  see  if  Allison 
were  not  ready  to  go  to  bed ;  but  Allison  sent  him  away 
as  soon  as  he  had  fixed  the  fire.  The  tray  was  un 
touched,  and  out  there  in  the  dim  moonlight,  which 
peered  now  and  then  through  the  shifting  clouds,  the 
long-armed  willow  beckoned  and  beckoned. 

Morning  came,  cold  and  grey  and  damp  as  the  night 
had  been.  Allison  had  fallen  asleep  towards  the  dawn, 
sitting  at  his  desk  with  his  heavy  head  on  his  arms,  and 
not  even  the  clatter  of  the  building  of  the  fire  roused 
him.  At  seven  when  Peabody  came,  Allison  raised  up 
with  a  start  at  the  opening  of  the  door,  but  before  he 
glanced  at  Peabody,  he  looked  out  of  the  window  at 
the  willow. 

"  Good-morning,"  said  Peabody  with  a  cheerfulness 
which  sounded  oddly  in  that  dim,  bare  room.  "  I 
brought  you  the  paper,  and  some  fresh  eggs.  There 


342  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

was  a  little  touch  of  frost  this  morning,  but  it  went 
away  about  time  for  sun-up.  How  will  you  have  your 
eggs?  Fried,  I  suppose,  after  the  steak.  Seems  like 
you  don't  have  much  appetite,"  and  he  scrutinised  the 
untouched  tray  with  mingled  regret  and  resentment. 
Since  Allison  paid  no  attention  to  him,  he  decided  on 
eggs  fried  after  the  steak,  and  started  for  the  door. 

Allison  had  picked  up  the  paper  mechanically.  It 
had  lain  with  the  top  part  downwards,  but  his  own  pic 
ture  was  in  the  centre.  He  turned  the  paper  over,  so 
that  he  could  see  the  headlines. 

"  Peabody ! "  No  longer  the  dead  tones  of  a  man 
in  a  mental  stupor,  a  man  who  can  not  think,  but  in 
the  sharp  tones  of  a  man  who  can  feel. 

"  Yes-sir."  Sharp  and  crisp,  like  the  snap  of  a  whip. 
Allison  had  scared  it  out  of  him. 

"  Don't  come  in  again  until  I  call  you." 

"  Yes-sir."  Grieved  this  time.  Darn  it,  wasn't  he 
doing  his  best  for  the  man! 

So  it  had  come ;  the  time  when  his  will  was  not  God ! 
A  God  should  be  omnipotent,  impregnable,  unassail 
able,  absolute.  He  was  surprised  at  the  calmness  with 
which  he  took  this  blow.  It  was  the  very  bigness  of 
the  hurt  which  left  it  so  little  painful.  A  man  with  his 
leg  shot  off  suffers  not  one-tenth  so  much  as  a  man 
who  tears  his  fingernail  to  the  quick.  Moreover,  there 
was  that  other  big  horror  which  had  left  him  stupefied 
and  numb.  He  had  not  known  that  in  his  ruthlessness 
there  was  any  place  for  remorse,  or  for  terror  of  him 
self  at  anything  he  might  choose  to  do.  But  there  was. 
He  entered  into  no  ravings  now,  no  writhings,  no  out 
cries.  He  realised  calmly  and  clearly  all  he  had  done, 
and  all  which  had  happened  to  him  in  retribution.  He 
saw  the  downfall  of  his  stupendous  scheme  of  world- 


CHICKEN,  OR  STEAK?  343 

wide  conquest.  He  saw  his  fortune,  to  the  last  penny, 
swept  away,  for  he  had  invested  all  that  he  could  raise 
on  his  securities  and  his  business  and  his  prospects, 
in  the  preliminary  expenses  of  the  International  Trans 
portation  Company,  bearing  this  portion  of  the  finan 
cial  burden  himself,  as  part  of  the  plan  by  which  he 
meant  to  obtain  ultimate  control  and  command  of  the 
tremendous  consolidation,  and  become  the  king  among 
kings,  with  the  whole  world  in  his  imperious  grasp,  a 
sway  larger  than  that  of  any  potentate  who  had  ever 
sat  upon  a  throne,  larger  than  the  sway  of  all  the  mon- 
archs  of  earth  put  together,  as  large  terrestrially  as 
the  sway  of  God  himself!  All  these  he  saw  crumbled 
away,  fallen  down  around  him,  a  wreck  so  complete  that 
no  shred  or  splinter  of  it  was  worth  the  picking  up ; 
saw  himself  disgraced  and  discredited,  hated  and  ridi 
culed  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  and  circum 
ference  of  the  very  earth  he  had  meant  to  rule ;  saw 
himself  discarded  by  the  strong  men  whom  he  had  in 
veigled  into  this  futile  scheme  and  saw  himself  forced 
into  commercial  death  as  wolves  rend  and  devour  a  crip 
pled  member  of  their  pack ;  last,  he  saw  himself  loatheoT 
in  the  one  pure  breast  he  had  sought  to  make  his  own; 
and  that  was  the  deepest  hurt  of  all ;  for  now,  in  the 
bright  blaze  of  his  own  conflagration,  he  saw  that,  be 
neath  his  grossness,  he  had  loved  her,  after  all,  loved 
her  with  a  love  which,  if  he  had  shorn  it  of  his  dross, 
might  perhaps  have  won  her. 

Through  all  that  day  he  sat  at  the  desk,  and  when 
the  night-time  came  again,  he  walked  out  of  the  house, 
and  across  the  field,  and  over  the  tiny  foot-bridge,  un 
der  the  willow  tree  with  the  still  beckoning  arms ;  and 
the  world,  his  world,  the  world  he  had  meant  to  make 
his  own,  never  saw  him  again. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV 

A    MATTER    OF    CONSCIENCE 

GAIL  stood  at  the  rail  of  the  Whitecap,  gazing  out 
over  the  dancing  blue  waves  with  troubled  eyes. 

"  Penny,"  said  a  cheerful  voice  at  her  side. 

"  For  my  thoughts,"  she  replied,  turning  to  the  im 
possibly  handsome  Dick  Rodley  who  had  strolled  up,  in 
his  blue  jacket  and  white  trousers  and  other  nautical 
embellishments.  "  Give  me  your  penny." 

He  reached  in  his  pockets,  but  of  course,  there  was 
no  money  there.  He  did,  however,  find  a  fountain  pen 
and  a  card,  and  he  wrote  her  a  note  for  the  amount. 

"  Now  deliver  the  merchandise,"  he  demanded. 

"  Well,  to  begin  with,  I'm  glad  that  the  fog  has  been 
driven  away,  and  that  the  sun  is  shining,  and  that  so 
many  of  my  friends  are  on  board  the  Whitecap." 

"  You're  not  a  conscientious  merchant,"  objected 
Dick.  "  You're  not  giving  me  all  I  paid  for.  No  one 
stands  still  so  long,  no  matter  how  charming  of  figure 
or  becomingly  gowned,  without  a  serious  thought.  I 
want  that  thought." 

Gail  looked  up  into  his  big  black  eyes  reflectively. 
She  was  tremendously  glad  that  she  had  such  a  friend 
as  Dick.  He  was  so  agreeable  to  look  at,  and  he  was 
no  problem  to  her.  The  most  of  her  friends  were. 

"  The  news  in  the  paper,"  she  told  him.  "  It's  so 
big." 

Dick  looked  down  at  her  critically.  Her  snow-white 
344 


A  MATTER  OF  CONSCIENCE        345 

yachting  costume,  with  its  touches  of  delicate  blue, 
seemed  to  make  her  a  part  of  the  blue  sea  and  the  blue 
sky,  with  their  markings  of  white  in  foam  and  cloud, 
to  enhance  the  delicate  pallor  of  her  cheeks,  to  throw 
into  her  brown  eyes  a  trace  of  violet,  to  bring  into  re 
lief,  the  rich  colour  of  the  brown  hair  which  rippled 
about  her  face,  straying  where  it  could  into  wanton  lit 
tle  ringlets,  sometimes  gold  and  sometimes  almost  red 
in  the  sun.  She  was  so  new  a  Gail  to  Dick  that  he 
was  puzzled,  and  worried,  too,  for  he  felt,  rather  than 
saw,  that  some  trouble  possessed  this  dearest  of  his 
friends. 

"  Yes,  it  is  big  news,"  he  admitted ;  "  big  enough 
and  startling  enough  to  impress  any  one  very  gravely." 
Then  he  shook  his  head  at  her.  "  But  you  mustn't 
worry  about  it,  Gail.  You're  not  responsible." 

Gail  turned  her  eyes  from  him  and  looked  out  over 
the  white-edged  waves  again. 

"  It  is  a  tremendous  responsibility,"  she  mused,  where 
upon  Dick,  as  became  him,  violently  broke  that  thread 
of  thought  by  taking  her  arm  and  drawing  her  away 
from  the  rail,  and  walking  gaily  with  her  up  to  the 
forward  shelter  deck,  where,  shielded  from  the  crisp- 
ness  of  the  wind,  there  sat,  around  the  big  table  and 
amid  a  tangle  of  Sunday  papers,  Jim  Sargent  and  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  Arly  and  Gerald  Fosland,  all 
four  deep  in  the  discussion  of  the  one  possible  topic 
of  conversation. 

"  Allison's  explosion  again,"  objected  Dick,  as  Gail 
and  he  joined  the  group,  and  caught  the  general  tenor 
of  the  thought.  "  I  suppose  the  only  way  to  escape 
that  is  to  jump  off  the  Whitecap.  Gail's  worse  than 
any  of  you.  I  find  she's  responsible  for  the  whole 
thing."  ' 


346  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Arly  and  Gerald  looked  up  quickly. 

"  I  neither  said  nor  intimated  anything  of  the  sort," 
Gail  reprimanded  Dick,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Foslands, 
and  she  sat  down  by  Arly,  whereupon  Dick,  observing 
that  he  was  much  offended,  patted  Gail  on  the  shoulder, 
and  disappeared  in  search  of  Ted. 

"  I'd  like  to  hand  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  responsible 
party,"  laughed  Jim  Sargent,  to  whom  the  news  meant 
more  than  Gail  appreciated.  "  With  Allison  broke, 
Urbank  of  the  Midcontinent  succeeds  to  control  of  the 
A.-P.,  and  Urbank  is  anxious  to  incorporate  the  To- 
wando  Valley  in  the  system.  He  told  me  so  yesterday." 

The  light  which  leaped  into  Gail's  eyes,  and  the  trace 
of  colour  which  flashed  into  her  cheeks,  were  most  com 
forting  to  Arly ;  and  they  exchanged  a  smile  of  great 
satisfaction.  They  clutched  hands  ecstatically  under 
the  corner  of  the  table,  and  wanted  to  laugh  outright. 
However,  it  would  keep. 

"  The  destruction  of  Mr.  Allison  was  a  feat  of  which 
any  gentleman's  conscience  might  approve,"  commented 
Gerald  Fosland,  who  had  spent  some  time  in  definitely 
settling,  with  himself,  the  ethics  of  that  question.  "  The 
company  he  proposed  to  form  was  a  menace  to  the  lib 
erty  of  the  world  and  the  progress  of  civilisation." 

"  The  destruction  didn't  go  far  enough,"  snapped 
Jim  Sargent.  "  Clark,  Vance,  Haverman,  Grandin, 
Babbitt,  Taylor,  Chisholm;  these  fellows  won't  be 
touched,  and  they  built  up  their  monopolies  by  the 
same  method  Allison  proposed;  trickery,  force,  and 
plain  theft!" 

"  Harsh  language,  Uncle  Jim  Sargent,  to  use  toward 
your  respectable  fellow-vestrymen,"  chided  Arly,  her 
black  eyes  dancing. 

"Clark  and  Chisholm?"  and  Jim  Sargent's  brows 


A  MATTER  OF  CONSCIENCE        347 

knotted.  "  They're  not  my  fellow-vestrymen.  Either 
they  go  or  I  do !  " 

"  I  would  like  you  to  remain,"  quietly  stated  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd.  "  I  hope  to  achieve  several  impor 
tant  alterations  in  the  ethics  of  Market  Square  Church." 
He  was  grave  this  morning.  He  had  unknowingly  been 
ripening  for  some  time  on  many  questions ;  and  the  reve 
lations  in  this  morning's  papers  had  brought  him  to 
the  point  of  decision.  "  I  wish  to  drive  the  money 
changers  out  of  the  temple,"  he  added,  and  glanced  at 
Gail  with  a  smile  in  which  there  was  acknowledgment. 

"A  remarkably  lucrative  enterprise,  eh  Gail?" 
laughed  her  Uncle  Jim,  remembering  her  criticism  on 
the  occasion  of  her  first  and  only  vestry  meeting,  when 
she  had  called  their  attention  to  the  satire  of  the  stained 
glass  window. 

"  You  will  have  still  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees,  Doc 
tor  ;  *  those  who  stand  praying  in  the  public  places,  so 
they  may  be  seen  of  all  men,'  "  and  Gail  smiled  across 
at  him,  within  her  eyes  the  mischievous  twinkle  which 
had  been  absent  for  many  days. 

"  I  hope  to  be  able  to  remove  the  public  place,"  re 
plied  the  rector,  with  a  gravity  which  told  of  some 
thing  vital  beneath  the  apparent  repartee.  Mrs.  Boyd, 
strolling  past  with  Aunt  Grace  Sargent,  paused  to  look 
at  him  fondly.  "  I  shall  set  myself,  with  such  strength 
as  I  may  have,  against  the  building  of  the  proposed 
cathedral." 

He  had  said  it  so  quietly  that  it  took  the  little  group 
a  full  minute  to  comprehend.  Jim  Sargent  looked  with 
acute  interest  at  the  end  of  his  cigar,  and  threw  it  over 
board.  Arly  leaned  slowly  forward,  and,  resting  her 
piquant  chin  on  her  closed  hand,  studied  the  rector  ear 
nestly.  Gerald  stroked  his  moustache  contemplatively, 


348  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

and  looked  at  the  rector  with  growing  admiration.  By 
George,  that  was  a  sportsmanlike  attitude !  He'd  have 
to  take  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  down  to  the  Papyrus 
Club  one  day.  All  the  trouble  flew  back  into  Gail's 
eyes.  It  was  a  stupendous  thing  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd  was  proposing  to  relinquish !  The  rectorship  of 
the  most  wonderful  cathedral  in  the  world !  Mrs.  Boyd 
looked  startled  for  a  moment.  She  had  known  of  Tod's 
bright  dreams  about  the  new  cathedral  and  the  new 
rectory.  He  had  planned  his  mother's  apartments  him 
self,  and  the  last  thing  his  eyes  looked  upon  at  night 
were  the  beautifully  coloured  sketches  on  his  walls. 

"  Don't  be  foolish,  Boyd,"  protested  Sargent,  who 
had  always  felt  a  fatherly  responsibility  for  the  young 
rector.  "  It's  a  big  ambition  and  a  worthy  ambition, 
to  build  that  cathedral;  and  because  you're  offended 
with  certain  things  the  papers  have  said,  about  Clark 
and  Chisholm  in  connection  with  the  church,  is  no  rea 
son  you  should  cut  off  your  nose  to  spite  your  face." 

"  It  is  not  the  publication  of  these  things  which  has 
determined  me,"  returned  the  rector  thoughtfully.  "  It 
has  merely  hastened  my  decision.  To  begin  with,  I 
acknowledge  now  that  it  was  only  a  vague,  artistic 
dream  of  mine  that  such  a  cathedral,  by  its  very  mag 
nificence,  would  promote  worship.  That  might  have 
been  the  case  when  cathedrals  were  the  only  magnificent 
buildings  erected,  and  when  every  rich  and  glittering 
thing  was  devoted  to  religion.  A  golden  candlestick 
then  became  connected  entirely  with  the  service  of  the 
Almighty.  Now,  however,  magnificence  has  no  such 
signification.  The  splendour  of  a  cathedral  must  enter 
into  competition  with  the  splendour  of  a  state  house, 
a  museum,  or  a  hotel." 

"  You   shouldn't    switch   that   way,   Boyd,"   remon- 


A  MATTER  OF  CONSCIENCE       349 

strated  Sargent,  showing  his  keen  disappointment. 
"  When  you  began  to  agitate  for  the  cathedral  you 
brought  a  lot  of  our  members  in  who  hadn't  attended 
services  in  years.  You  stirred  them  up.  You  got 
them  interested.  They'll  drop  right  off." 

"  I  hope  not,"  returned  the  rector  earnestly.  "  I 
hope  to  reach  them  with  a  higher  ambition,  a  higher 
pride,  a  higher  vanity,  if  you  like  to  put  it  that  way. 
I  wish  them  to  take  joy  in  establishing  the  most  mag 
nificent  living  conditions  for  the  poor  which  have  ever 
been  built!  We  have  no  right  to  the  money  which  is 
to  be  paid  us  for  the  Vedder  Court  property.  We  have 
no  right  to  spend  it  in  pomp.  It  belongs  to  the  poor 
from  whom  we  have  taken  it,  and  to  the  city  which  has 
made  us  rich  by  enhancing  the  value  of  our  ground. 
I  propose  to  build  permanent  and  sanitary  tenements, 
to  house  as  many  poor  people  as  possible,  and  conduct 
them  without  a  penny  of  profit  above  the  cost  of  repairs 
and  maintenance." 

Gail  bent  upon  him  beaming  eyes,  and  the  delicate 
flush,  which  had  begun  to  return  to  her  cheeks,  deep 
ened.  Was  this  the  sort  of  tenements  he  had  proposed 
to  re-erect  in  Vedder  Court?  Perhaps  she  had  been 
hasty!  The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  in  turning  slowly 
from  one  to  the  other  of  the  little  group,  by  way  of  es 
tablishing  mental  communication  with  them,  rested,  for 
a  moment,  in  the  beaming  eyes  of  Gail,  and  smiled  at 
her  in  affectionate  recognition  then  swept  his  glance  on 
to  his  mother,  where  it  lingered. 

"  You  are  perfectly  correct,"  stated  Gerald  Fosland, 
who,  though  sitting  stiffly  upright,  had  managed  never 
theless  to  dispose  one  elbow  where  it  touched  gently  the 
surface  of  Arly.  "  Market  Square  Church  is  a  much 
more  dignified  old  place  of  worship  than  the  ostenta- 


350  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

tious  cathedral  would  ever  be,  and  your  project  for 
spending,  the  money  has  such  strict  justice  at  the  bot 
tom  of  it  that  it  must  prevail.  But,  I  say,  Doctor 
Boyd,"  and  he  gave  his  moustache  a  contemplative  tug ; 
"  don't  you  think  you  should  include  a  small  margin 
of  profit  for  the  future  extension  of  your  idea  ?  " 

"  That's  glorious,  Gerald ! "  approved  Gail ;  and 
Arly,  laughing,  patted  his  hand. 

"  You're  probably  right,"  considered  the  rector, 
studying  Fosland  with  a  new  interest.  "  I  think  we'll 
have  to  put  you  on  the  vestry." 

"  I'd  be  delighted,  I'm  sure,"  responded  Gerald,  in 
the  courteous  tone  of  one  accepting  an  invitation  to 
dinner. 

"  Do  you  hear  what  your  son's  planning  to  do  ?  " 
called  Jim  Sargent  to  Mrs.  Boyd.  He  was  not  quite 
reconciled.  "  He  proposes  to  take  that  wonderful  new 
rectory  away  from  you." 

The  beautiful  Mrs.  Boyd  merely  dimpled. 

"  I  am  a  trifle  astonished,"  she  confessed.  "  My  son 
has  been  so  extremely  eager  about  it;  but  if  he  is  re 
linquishing  the  dream,  it  is  because  he  wants  some 
thing  else  very  much  more  worth  while.  I  entirely  ap 
prove  of  his  plan  for  the  new  tenements,"  and  she  did 
not  understand  why  they  all  laughed  at  her.  She  did 
feel,  however,  that  there  was  affection  in  the  laughter; 
and  she  was  quite  content.  Laughing  with  them,  she 
walked  on  with  Grace  Sargent.  They  had  set  out  to 
make  twenty  trips  around  the  deck,  for  exercise. 

"  I  find  that  I  have  been  at  work  on  the  plans  for 
these  new  tenements  ever  since  the  condemnation,"  went 
on  the  rector.  "  I  would  build  them  in  the  semi-court 
style,  with  light  and  air  in  every  room;  with  as  little 
woodwork  as  possible;  with  plumbing  appliances  of 


A  MATTER  OF  CONSCIENCE        351 

simple  and  perfect  sanitation ;  with  centralised  baths 
under  the  care  of  an  attendant ;  with  assembly  rooms 
for  both  social  and  religious  observances  and  with  self 
contained  bureaus  of  employment,  health  and  police  pro 
tection  —  one  building  to  each  of  six  blocks,  widening 
the  street  for  a  grass  plot,  trees,  and  fountains.  The 
fact  that  the  Market  Square  Church  property  is  ex 
empt  from  taxation,  saving  us  over  half  a  million  dol 
lars  a  year,  renders  us  able  to  provide  these  advan 
tages  at  a  much  lower  rental  to  my  Vedder  Court  peo 
ple  than  they  can  secure  quarters  anywhere  else  in  the 
city,  and  at  the  same  time  lay  up  a  small  margin  of 
profit  for  the  system." 

Gerald  Fosland  drew  forward  his  chair. 

"  Do  you  know,"  he  observed,  "  I  should  like  very 
much  to  become  a  member  of  your  vestry." 

"  I'm  glad  you  are  interested,"  returned  the  rector, 
and  producing  a  pencil  he  drew  a  white  advertising 
space  towards  him.  "  This  is  the  plan  of  tenement  I 
have  in  mind,"  and  for  the  next  half  hour  the  five  of 
them  discussed  tenement  plans  with  great  enthusiasm. 

At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  Ted  and  Lucile  and 
Dick  and  Marion  came  romping  up,  with  the  deliberate 
intention  of  creating  a  disturbance ;  and  Gail  and  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  being  thrown  accidentally  to  the 
edge  of  that  whirlpool,  walked  away  for  a  rest. 

"  They  tell  me  you're  going  abroad,"  observed  the 
rector,  looking  down  at  her  sadly,  as  they  paused  at 
her  favourite  rail  space. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered  quietly.  "  Father  and  mother 
are  coming  next  week,"  and  she  glanced  up  at  the  rec 
tor  from  under  her  curving  lashes. 

There  was  a  short  space  of  silence.  It  was  almost 
as  if  these  two  were  weary. 


352  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

"  We  shall  miss  you  very  much,"  he  told  her,  in  all 
sincerity.  They  were  both  looking  out  over  the  blue 
waves ;  he,  tall,  broad-shouldered,  agile  of  limb ;  she, 
straight,  lithe,  graceful.  Mrs.  Boyd  and  Mrs.  Sar 
gent  passed  them  admiringly,  but  went  on  by  with  a 
trace  of  sadness. 

"  I'm  sorry  to  leave,"  Gail  replied.  "  I  shall  be  very 
anxious  to  know  how  you  are  coming  on  with  your  new 
plan.  I'm  proud  of  you  for  it." 

"  Thank  you,"  he  returned. 

They  were  talking  mechanically.  In  them  was  an 
inexpressible  sadness.  They  had  come  so  near,  and  yet 
they  were  so  far  apart.  Moreover,  they  knew  that 
there  was  no  chance  of  change.  It  was  a  matter  of 
conscience  which  came  between  them,  and  it  was  a  di 
vergence  which  would  widen  with  the  years.  And  yet 
they  loved.  They  mutually  knew  it,  and  it  was  because 
of  that  love  that  they  must  stay  apart. 


CHAPTER  XXXV 

A    VESTRY    MEETING 

r INHERE  was  a  strained  atmosphere  in  the  vestry 
A  meeting  from  the  first.  Every  member  present 
felt  the  tension  from  the  moment  old  Joseph  G.  Clark 
walked  in  with  Chisholm.  They  did  not  even  nod  to 
the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd,  but  took  their  seats  solidly 
in  their  customary  places  at  the  table,  Clark,  shielding 
his  eyes,  as  was  his  wont,  against  the  light  which 
streamed  on  him  from  the  red  robe  of  the  Good  Shep 
herd.  The  repression  was  apparent,  too,  in  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd,  who  rose  to  address  his  vestrymen 
as  soon  as  the  late-comers  arrived. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  wish  to  speak  to  you  as 
the  treasury  committee,  rather  than  as  vestrymen,  for 
it  is  in  the  former  capacity  which  you  always  attend. 
I  am  advised  that  we  have  been  paid  for  Vedder  Court." 

Chisholm,  to  whom  he  directed  a  gaze  of  inquiry,  nod 
ded  his  head. 

"It's  in  the  Majestic,"  he  stated.  "I  have  plans 
for  its  investment,  which  I  wish  to  lay  before  the  com 
mittee." 

"  I  shall  lay  my  own  before  them  at  the  same  time," 
went  on  the  rector.  "  I  wish,  however,  to  preface  these 
plans  by  the  statement  that  I  have,  so  far  as  I  am  con 
cerned,  relinquished  all  thought  of  building  the  new 
cathedral." 

353 


354  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  who  had  been  much  troubled 
of  late,  brightened,  and  nodded  his  round  head  em 
phatically. 

"  That's  what  I  say,"  he  declared. 

"  The  decision  does  not  lay  in  your  hands,  Doctor 
Boyd,"  drawled  a  nasal  voice  with  an  unconcealed  sneer 
in  it.  It  was  clean-shaven  old  Joseph  G.  Clark,  who 
was  not  disturbed,  in  so  much  as  the  parting  of  one 
hair,  by  all  the  adverse  criticism  of  him  which  had 
filled  column  upon  column  of  the  daily  press  for  the 
past  few  days.  "  The  rector  has  never,  in  the  history 
of  Market  Square  Church,  been  given  the  control  of 
its  finances.  He  has  invariably  been  hired  to  preach 
the  gospel." 

Sargent,  Cunningham,  Manning,  and  even  Van 
Ploon,  looked  at  Clark  in  surprise.  He  was  not  given 
to  open  reproof.  Chisholm  manifested  no  astonish 
ment.  He  sat  quietly  in  his  chair,  his  fingers  idly 
drumming  on  the  edge  of  the  table,  but  his  mutton- 
chop  beard  was  pink  from  the  reddening  of  the  skin 
beneath. 

"  The  present  rector  of  Market  Square  Church  means 
to  have  a  voice  in  its  deliberations  so  long  as  he  is  the 
rector !  "  announced  that  young  man  emphatically,  and 
Jim  Sargent  looked  up  at  him  with  a  jerk  of  his  head. 
The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  pale  this  afternoon,  but 
there  was  a  something  shining  through  his  pallor 
which  made  the  face  alive;  and  the  something  was  not 
temper.  Rufus  Manning,  clasping  his  silvery  beard 
with  a  firm  grip,  smiled  encouragingly  at  the  tall  young 
orator.  "  I  have  said  that  I  have,  so  far  as  I  am  con 
cerned,  relinquished  the  building  of  the  cathedral,"  the 
rector  went  on.  "  For  this  there  are  two  reasons.  The 
first  is  that  its  building  will  bring  us  further  away  from 


A  VESTRY  MEETING  355 

the  very  purpose  for  which  the  church  was  founded ; 
the  worship  of  God  with  an  humble  and  a  contrite  heart ! 
I  am  ready  to  confess  that  I  found,  on  rigid  self-analy 
sis,  my  leading  motive  in  urging  the  building  of  the 
new  cathedral  to  have  been  vanity.  I  am  also  ready 
to  confess,  on  behalf  of  my  congregation  and  vestry, 
that  their  leading  motive  was  vanity ! " 

"  You  have  no  authority  to  speak  for  me,"  inter 
rupted  Chisholm,  his  mutton-chops  now  red. 

"  Splendour  is  no  longer  the  exclusive  property  of 
religion,"  resumed  the  rector,  paying  no  attention  to 
the  interruption.  "  It  has  lost  the  greater  part  of  its 
effectiveness  because  splendour  has  become  a  mere  ad 
junct  to  the  daily  luxury  of  our  civilisation.  The  new 
cathedral  would  be  only  a  surrounding  in  keeping  with 
the  gilded  boudoirs  from  which  my  lady  parishioners 
step  to  come  to  worship ;  and  the  ceremony  of  worship 
has  become  the  Sunday  substitute,  in  point  of  social 
recognition,  for  the  week  day  tea.  If  I  thought,  how 
ever,  that  the  building  of  that  cathedral  would  promote 
the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  a  degree  commensurate  with 
the  outlay,  I  would  still  be  opposed  to  the  erection  of 
the  building ;  for  the  money  does  not  belong  to  us !  " 

"  Go  right  on  and  develop  our  conscience,"  approved 
Manning,  smiling  up  at  the  old  walnut-beamed  ceil 
ing  with  its  carved  cherub  brackets. 

"  The  money  belongs  to  Vedder  Court,"  declared  the 
rector ;  "  to  the  distorted  moral  cripples  which  Mar 
ket  Square  Church,  through  the  accident  of  commerce, 
has  taken  under  her  wing.  Gentlemen,  in  the  recent 
revelations  concerning  the  vast  industrial  interests  of 
the  world,  I  have  seen  the  whole  blackness  of  modern 
corporate  methods ;  and  Market  Square  Church  is  a 
corporation !  Corporations  were  originally  formed  for 


356  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

the  purpose  of  expediting  commerce,  and  it  is  the  mere 
logic  of  opportunity  that  their  progress  to  rapacity, 
coercion,  and  merciless  strangulation  of  all  competi 
tion,  has  been  so  swift.  They  have  at  no  time  been 
swayed  by  any  moral  consideration.  This  fact  is  so 
notorious  that  it  has  given  rise  to  the  true  phrase  *  cor 
porations  have  no  souls.'  I  wish  to  ask  you,  in  how 
far  the  Market  Square  Church  has  been  swayed,  in  its 
commercial  dealings,  by  moral  considerations?" 

He  paused,  and  glanced  from  man  to  man  of  his 
vestry.  Sargent  and  Manning,  the  former  of  whom 
knew  his  plans  and  the  latter  of  whom  had  been  wait 
ing  for  them  to  mature,  smiled  at  him  in  perfect  ac 
cord.  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  sat  quite  placidly,  with  his 
hands  folded  over  his  creaseless  vest.  Willis  Cunning 
ham,  stroking  his  sparse  brown  Vandyke,  looked  un 
comfortable,  as  if  he  had  suddenly  been  introduced  into 
a  rude  brawl ;  but  his  eye  roved  occasionally  to  Nicholas 
Van  Ploon,  who  was  two  generations  ahead  of  him  in 
the  acquisition  of  wealth,  by  the  brilliant  process  of 
allowing  property  to  increase  in  valuation.  Chisholm 
glared. 

"  You'll  not  find  any  money  which  is  not  tainted," 
snapped  Joseph  G.  Clark,  who  regarded  money  in  a 
strictly  impersonal  light.  "  The  very  dollar  you  have 
in  your  pocket  may  have  come  direct  from  a  brothel." 

"  Or  from  Vedder  Court,"  retorted  the  rector.  "  We 
have  brothels  there,  though  we  do  not  *  officially  '  know 
it.  We  have  saloons  there;  we  have  gambling  rooms 
there ;  and,  from  all  these  iniquities,  Market  Square 
Church  reaps  a  profit!  For  the  glory  of  God?  I  dare 
you,  Joseph  G.  Clark,  or  W.  T.  Chisholm,  to  answer  me 
that  question  in  the  affirmative !  In  Vedder  Court  there 
are  tenements  walled  and  partitioned  with  contagion, 


A  VESTRY  MEETING  357 

poison,  with  miasmatic  air,  reeking  with  disease ;  and 
from  the  poor  who  flock  into  this  fetid  shelter,  because 
we  offer  them  cheap  rents,  Market  Square  Church  takes 
a  profit  as  great  as  any  distillery  combine!  For  the 
glory  of  God?  Out  of  very  shame  we  can  not  answer 
that  question!  We  have  bought  and  sold  with  the 
greed  of  any  conscienceless  individual,  and  our  com 
modity  has  been  filth  and  degradation,  human  lives 
and  stunted  souls !  No  decent  man  would  conduct  the 
business  we  do,  for  the  reason  that  it  would  soil  his 
soul  as  a  gentleman ;  and  it  is  a  shameful  thing  that 
a  gentleman  should  have  finer  ethics  than  a  Christian 
church !  In  the  beginning,  I  was  a  coward  about  this 
matter !  It  was  because  I  wished  to  be  rid  of  our  re 
sponsibility  in  Vedder  Court  that  I  first  urged  the  con 
version  of  that  property  into  a  cathedral.  We  can 
not  rid  ourselves  of  the  responsibility  of  Vedder  Court ! 
If  it  were  possible  for  a  church  to  be  sent  to  hell,  Mar 
ket  Square  Church  would  be  eternally  damned  if  it 
took  this  added  guilt  upon  it !  " 

"This  talk  is  absurd,"  declared  Chisholm.  "The 
city  has  taken  Vedder  Court  away  from  us." 

"  Only  the  property,"  quickly  corrected  Rufus  Man 
ning,  turning  to  Chisholm  with  sharpness  in  his  deep 
blue  eyes.  "  If  you  will  remember,  I  told  you  this  same 
thing  before  Doctor  Boyd  came  to  us.  I  have  waited 
ever  since  his  arrival  for  him  to  develop  to  this  point, 
and  I  wish  to  announce  myself  as  solidly  supporting 
his  views." 

"  Your  own  will  not  bear  inspection ! "  charged 
Clark,  turning  to  Manning  with  a  scowl. 

"I'll  range  up  at  the  judgment  seat  with  you!" 
flamed  Manning.  "  We're  both  old  enough  to  think 
about  that ! " 


358  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Joseph  G.  Clark  jumped  to  his  feet,  and,  leaning 
across  the  table,  shook  a  thin  forefinger  at  Manning. 

"  I  have  been  attacked  enough  on  the  point  of  my 
moral  standing !  "  he  declared,  his  high  pitched  nasal 
voice  quavering  with  an  anger  he  had  held  below  the 
explosive  point  during  the  most  of  his  life.  "  I  can 
stand  the  attacks  of  a  sensational  press,  but  when  spite 
ful  criticism  follows  me  into  my  own  vestry,  almost  in 
the  sacred  shadow  of  the  altar  itself,  I  am  compelled 
to  protest!  I  wish  to  state  to  this  vestry,  once  and 
for  all,  that  my  moral  status  is  above  reproach,  and 
that  my  conduct  has  been  such  as  to  receive  the  com 
mendation  of  my  Maker!  Because  it  has  pleased  Di 
vine  Providence  to  place  in  my  hands  the  distribution 
of  the  grain  of  the  fields,  I  am  constantly  subject  to 
the  attacks  of  envy  and  malice !  It  has  gone  so  far 
that  I,  last  night,  received  from  the  Reverend  Smith 
Boyd,  a  request  to  resign  from  this  vestry ! "  He 
paused  in  triumph  on  that,  as  if  he  had  made  against 
the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  a  charge  of  such  ghastly 
infamy  that  the  young  rector  must  shrivel  before  his 
eyes.  "  I  have  led  a  blameless  life !  I  have  never 
smoked  nor  drank!  I  have  paid  every  penny  I  ever 
owed  and  fulfilled  every  promise  I  ever  made.  I  have 
obeyed  the  gospel,  and  partaken  of  the  sacraments, 
and  the  Divine  Being  has  rewarded  me  abundantly ! 
He  has  chosen  me,  because  of  my  faithful  stewardship, 
to  gather  the  foods  of  earth  from  its  sources,  and  feed 
it  to  the  mouths  of  the  hungry ;  and  I  shah1  not  depart 
from  my  stewardship  in  this  church,  because  I  am  here, 
as  I  am  everywhere,  by  the  will  of  God ! " 

Perhaps  W.  T.  Chisholm  was  not  shocked  by  this 
blasphemy,  but  the  dismay  of  it  sat  on  every  other  face, 


A  VESTRY  MEETING  359 

even  on  that  of  Nicholas  Van  Ploon,  who  was  compelled 
to  dig  deep  to  find  his  ethics. 

"  You  infernal  old  thief !  "  wondered  Manning,  re 
covering  from  his  amazement.  "  Was  it  Divine  Provi 
dence  which  directed  you  to  devise  the  scheme  whereby 
the  railroads  paid  you  two  dollars-  rebate  on  every  car 
of  wheat  you  shipped,  and  a  dollar  bonus  on  every 
car  of  wheat  your  competitors  shipped?  I  could  give 
you  a  string  of  sins  as  long  as  the  catechism,  and  you 
dare  not  deny  one  of  them,  because  I  can  prove  them 
on  you!  And  yet  you  have  the  effrontery  to  say  that 
a  Divine  Providence  would  establish  you  in  your  mo 
nopoly,  by  such  scoundrelly  means  as  you  have  risen 
to  become  the  greatest  dispenser  of  self  advertising 
charities  in  the  world!  You  propose  to  ride  into 
Heaven  on  your  universities  and  your  libraries,  and  on 
the  fact  that  you  never  smoked  nor  drank  nor  swore 
nor  gambled ;  but  when  you  come  face  to  face  with  this 
horrible  new  god  you  have  created,  a  deity  who  would 
permit  you  to  attain  wealth  by  the  vile  methods  you 
have  used,  you  will  find  him  with  a  pitch-fork  in  his 
hands !  I  am  glad  that  Doctor  Boyd,  though  knowing 
your  vindictive  record,  has  had  bravery  enough  to  de 
mand  your  resignation  from  this  vestry!  I  hope  he 
receives  it ! " 

Joseph  G.  Clark  had  remained  standing,  and  his  head 
shook,  as  with  a  palsy,  while  he  listened  to  the  charge  of 
Manning.  He  was  a  very  old  man,  and  it  had  been 
quite  necessary  for  him  to  restrain  his  passions  through 
out  his  life. 

"  You  will  go  first ! "  he  shouted  at  Manning.  "  I 
am  impregnable ;  but  you  have  no  business  on  this  ves 
try!  You  can  be  removed  at  any  time  an  examination 


360  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

is  ordered,  for  I  have  heard  you,  we  have  all  heard  you, 
deny  the  immaculate  conception,  and  thereby  the  Di 
vinity  of  Christ,  in  whom  alone  there  is  salvation !  " 

A  hush  like  death  fell  on  the  vestry.  The  Reverend 
Smith  Boyd  was  the  first  to  break  the  ghastly  silence. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  he,  "  I  do  not  think  that  we  are 
in  a  mood  to-day  for  further  discussion.  I  suggest 
that  we  adjourn." 

His  voice  seemed  to  distract  the  attention  of  Clark 
from  Manning,  at  whom  he  had  been  glowering.  He 
turned  on  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  the  remainder  of 
the  wrath  which  marked  his  first  break  into  senility. 

"  As  for  you ! "  he  snarled,  "  you  will  keep  your  fin 
gers  out  of  matters  which  do  not  concern  you !  You 
were  hired  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  you  will  confine 
your  attention  to  that  occupation,  preaching  just  what 
you  find  sanctioned  in  this  book ;  nothing  more,  nothing 
less !  "  and  taking  a  small  volume  which  lay  on  the  table, 
he  tossed  it  in  front  of  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

It  was  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  containing,  in 
the  last  pages,  the  Articles  of  Faith. 

Clark  seized  his  hat  and  coat,  and  strode  out  of  the 
door,  followed  by  the  red-faced  Chisholm,  who  had  also 
been  asked  to  resign.  Nicholas  Van  Ploon  rose,  and 
shook  hands  with  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd. 

"  Sargent  has  told  me  about  your  plan  for  the  new 
tenements,"  he  stated.  "  I  am  in  favour  of  buying 
the  property." 

"  We'll  swing  it  for  you,  Boyd,"  promised  Jim  Sar 
gent.  "  I've  been  talking  with  some  of  the  other  mem 
bers,  and  they  seem  to  favour  the  idea  that  the  new 
Vedder  Court  will  be  a  great  monument.  There'll  be 
no  such  magnificent  charity  in  the  world,  and  no  such 
impressive  sacrifice  as  giving  up  that  cathedral!  I 


A  VESTRY  MEETING  361 

think  Cunningham  will  be  with  us,  when  it  comes  to  a 
vote." 

"  Certainly,"  interposed  Nicholas  Van  Ploon.  "  We 
don't  need  to  make  any  profit  from  those  tenements. 
The  normal  increase  in  ground  value  will  be  enough." 

"  Yes,"  said  Cunningham  slowly.  "  I  am  heartily  in 
favour  of  the  proposition." 

"  Coming  along,  Doctor,"  invited  Manning,  going 
for  his  coat  and  hat. 

"  No,  I  think  not,"  decided  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd 
quietly. 

He  was  sitting  at  the  end  of  the  table  facing  the 
Good  Shepherd,  at  the  edge  of  whose  robe  still  sparkled 
crystalline  light,  and  in  his  two  hands  he  thoughtfully 
held  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 


CHAPTER  XXXVI 

HAND    IN    HAND 

THE  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  walked  slowly  out  into 
the  dim  church,  with  the  little  volume  in  his  hand. 
The  afternoon  sun  had  sunk  so  low  that  the  illumina 
tion  from  the  stained  glass  windows  was  cut  off  by 
the  near  buildings,  and  the  patches  of  ruby  and  of 
sapphire,  of  emerald  and  of  topaz,  glowed  now  near 
the  tops  of  the  slender  columns,  or  mellowed  the  dusky 
spaces  up  amid  the  arches. 

It  was  hushed  and  silent  there,  deserted,  and  far 
from  the  thoughts  of  men.  The  young  rector  walked 
slowly  up  the  aisle  to  a  pew  in  the  corner  near  the  main 
entrance,  and  sat  down,  still  with  the  little  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  in  his  hand,  and,  in  the  book,  the  Ar 
ticles  of  Religion.  From  them  alone  must  he  preach ; 
nothing  more  and  nothing  less.  That  was  the  duty  for 
which  he  was  hired.  His  own  mind,  his  own  intelli 
gence,  the  reason  and  the  spirit  and  the  soul  which 
God  had  given  him  were  for  no  other  use  than  the  clever 
support  of  the  things  which  were  printed  here.  And 
who  had  formulated  these  articles?  Men;  men  like 
himself.  They  had  made  their  interpretation  in  sol 
emn  conclave,  and  had  defined  the  Deity,  and  the  form 
in  which  he  must  be  addressed,  as  one  instructs  a  serv 
ant  in  the  proper  words  to  use  in  announcing  the  ar 
rival  of  a  guest  or  the  readiness  of  a  dinner.  The 
interpretation  made,  these  men  had  arrogantly  closed 


HAND  IN  HAND  363 

the  book,  and  had  said,  in  effect,  this  is  the  way  of  sal 
vation,  and  none  other  can  avail.  Unless  a  man  be 
lieves  what  is  here  set  down,  he  can  in  nowise  enter 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven ;  and  a  pure  life  filled  with  good 
works  is  for  naught. 

The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  had  no  need  to  read  those 
Articles  of  Religion.  He  had  been  over  them  countless 
times,  and  he  knew  them  by  heart,  from  beginning  to 
end.  He  had  opened  wide  the  credulity  of  his  mind, 
and  had  forced  his  belief  into  these  channels,  so  that 
he  might  preach  the  gospel,  not  of  Christ,  but  of  his 
church,  with  a  clean  conscience.  And  he  had  done  so. 
Whatever  doubts  there  had  lurked  in  him,  from 
that  one  period  of  infidelity  in  his  youth,  he  had  shut 
off  behind  a  solid  wall  over  which  he  would  not  peer. 
There  were  many  things  behind  that  wall  which  it  were 
better  for  him  not  to  see,  he  had  told  himself,  lest,  from 
among  them,  some  false  doctrine  may  creep  up  and 
poison  the  purity  of  his  faith.  He  had  thrown  himself 
solidly  on  faith.  Belief  implicit  and  unfaltering  was 
necessary  to  the  support  of  the  dogmatic  theology  he 
taught,  and  he  gave  it  that  belief;  implicit  and  unfal 
tering.  Reason  had  no  part  in  religion  or  in  theology ; 
and  for  good  cause ! 

But  here  had  come  a  condition  where  reason,  like  a 
long  suppressed  passion  of  the  body,  clamoured  insist 
ently  to  be  heard,  and  would  have  its  voice,  and  strode 
in,  and  took  loud  possession.  Joseph  G.  Clark,  so  filled 
with  iniquity  that  he  could  not  see  his  own  sins,  so  rot 
ted,  to  the  depths  of  his  soul,  that  he  could  twist  every 
violation  of  moral  law  into  a  virtue,  so  sunken  in  the 
foulness  of  every  possible  onslaught  upon  mercy  and 
justice  and  humanity  that  millions  suffered  from  his 
deeds,  this  man  could  sit  in  the  vestry  of  Market 


364  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Square  Church,  and  control  the  destinies  of  an  organ 
isation  built  ostensibly  for  the  purpose  of  saving  souls 
and  spreading  the  gospel  of  mercy  and  justice  and 
humanity,  could  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  holy,  because,  with 
his  lips  he  could  say :  "  I  acknowledge  Christ  as  my 
Redeemer  " !  Rufus  Manning,  whose  life  was  an  open 
page,  whose  record  was  one  upon  which  there  was  no 
blot,  who  had  lived  purely,  and  humanely,  and  merci 
fully  and  compassionately,  who  had  given  freely  of  his 
time  and  of  his  goods  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were 
weak  and  helpless  and  needy,  who  had  read  deeply  into 
human  hearts,  and  had  comforted  them  because  he  was 
gifted  with  a  portion  of  that  divine  compassion  which 
sent  an  only  begotten  Son  to  die  upon  the  cross,  that 
through  his  blood  the  sins  of  man  might  be  washed 
away,  this  man  could  be  driven  from  the  vestry  of  Mar 
ket  Square  Church,  itself  guilty  and  stained  with  sin, 
because  he  could  not,  or  would  not  say  with  his  lips, 
"  I  acknowledge  Christ  as  my  Redeemer  " ! 

Reason  made  a  terrific  onslaught  against  faith  at 
this  juncture.  Familiar  as  he  was  with  the  book,  the 
Reverend  Smith  Boyd  turned  to  the  Articles  of  Re 
ligion. 

"  We  are  accounted  righteous  before  God,  only  for 
the  merit  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  by 
Faith,  and  not  for  our  own  works  or  deserving.  .  .  . 

"  Works  done  before  the  grace  of  Christ,  and  the  In 
spiration  of  His  Spirit,  are  not  pleasant  to  God,  for 
as  much  as  they  spring  not  of  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ; 
neither  do  they  make  men  meet  to  receive  grace,  or  de 
serve  grace  of  congruity :  yea,  rather,  for  that  they  are 
not  done  as  God  hath  willed  and  commanded  them  to 
be  done,  we  doubt  not  but  they  have  the  nature  of  sin." 

There  was  some  discrepancy  here  between  the  works 


HAND  IN  HAND  365 

and  the  faith  of  Clark  and  the  works  and  the  faith  of 
Manning.  The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  made  no  doubt 
that  the  Great  Judge  would  find  little  difficulty  in  dis 
tinguishing  between  these  two  men,  and  in  deciding 
upon  their  respective  merits ;  but  that  was  not  the  point 
which  disturbed  the  young  rector.  It  was  the  atti 
tude  of  the  church  towards  these  men,  and  the  fact 
that  he  must  uphold  that  attitude.  It  was  absurd? 
The  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  was  a  devout  and  earnest 
and  consistent  believer,  not  merely  in  the  existence  of 
God,  but  in  his  greatness  and  his  power  and  his  glory, 
his  justice  and  his  mercy  and  his  wisdom;  but  the  Rev 
erend  Smith  Boyd  suddenly  made  the  startling  discov 
ery  that  he  was  not  preaching  God!  He  was  preach 
ing  the  church  and  its  creed! 

Started,  now,  he  went  through  the  thirty-nine  Arti 
cles  of  Religion,  one  by  one,  slowly,  thoughtfully,  and 
with  a  quickened  conscience.  Reason  knocked  at  the 
door  of  Faith,  and  entered;  but  it  did  not  drive  out 
Faith.  T.hey  sat  side  by  side,  but  each  gave  some 
thing  to  the  other.  No,  rather,  Reason  stripped  the 
mask  from  Faith,  tore  away  the  disguising  cloak,  and 
displayed  her  in  all  her  simple  beauty,  sweet,  and  gen 
tle,  and  helpful.  What  was  the  faith  he  had  been 
called  upon  to  teach?  Faith  in  the  thirty-nine  Arti 
cles  of  Religion!  This  had  been  cleverly  substituted 
by  the  organisers  of  an  easy  profession,  for  faith  in 
God,  which  latter  was  too  simple  of  comprehension  for 
the  purposes  of  any  organisation. 

For  a  long  time  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  sat  in  the 
corner  pew,  and  when  he  had  closed  the  book,  all  that 
had  been  behind  the  wall  of  his  mind  came  out,  and  was 
sorted  into  heaps,  and  the  bad  discarded  and  the  good 
retained.  He  found  a  wonderful  relief  in  that.  He 


366  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

had  lived  with  a  secret  chamber  in  his  heart,  hidden 
even  from  himself,  and  now  that  he  had  opened  the  door, 
he  felt  free.  Above  him,  around  him,  within  him,  was 
the  presence  of  God,  infinite,  tender,  easy  of  under 
standing;  and  from  that  God,  his  God,  the  one  which 
should  walk  with  him  through  life  his  friend  and  com 
forter  and  counsellor,  he  stripped  every  shred  of  pre 
tence  and  worthless  form  and  useless  ceremony! 

"  I  believe  in  God  the  Creator ;  the  Maker  of  my 
conscience ;  my  Friend  and  Father."  The  creed  of 
Gail! 

He  walked  out  into  the  broad  centre  aisle,  now,  amid 
the  solemn  pews  and  the  avenue  of  slender  columns, 
and  beneath  graceful  arches  which  pointed  heaven 
ward  the  aspirations  of  the  human  soul.  Before  the 
altar  he  paused  and  gazed  up  at  the  beautiful  Henri 
Dupres  crucifix.  The  soft  light  from  one  of  the  cleres 
tory  windows  flooded  in  on  Him,  and  the  compassion 
ate  eyes  of  the  Son  of  God  seemed  bent  upon  the  young 
rector  in  benign  sympathy.  For  a  moment  the  rec 
tor  stood,  tall  and  erect,  then  he  stretched  forth  his 
arms: 

"  I  know  tha-t  my  Redeemer  liveth ! "  he  said,  and 
sank  to  his  knees. 

Two  high  points  he  had  kept  in  his  faith,  points 
never  to  be  shaken;  the  existence  of  his  Creator,  his 
mercy  and  his  love,  and  the  Divinity  of  his  Son,  who 
died,  was  crucified  and  buried,  and  on  the  third  day 
arose  to  ascend  unto  Heaven.  Reason  could  not  de 
stroy  that  citadel  in  a  man  born  to  the  necessity  of 
Faith!  Man  must  believe  some  one  thing.  If  it  was 
as  easy,  as  he  had  once  set  forth,  to  believe  in  the  bibli 
cal  account  of  the  creation  of  the  world  as  to  believe 
in  a  pre-existent  chaos,  out  of  which  evoluted  the  spirit 


HAND  IN  HAND  367 

of  life,  and  all  its  marvels  of  growing  trees  and  flying 
birds  and  reasoning  men,  it  was  as  easy  to  go  one  step 
further,  and  add  the  Son  to  the  Father  and  to  the  Holy 
Ghost!  Even  chaps  must  have  been  created! 

Fully  satisfied,  the  Reverend  Smith  Boyd  walked  into 
the  vestry,  and  wrote  his  resignation  from  the  rector 
ship  of  Market  Square  Church,  for  he  could  no  longer 
teach,  and  preach,  Faith  — •  in  the  thirty-nine  Articles 
of  Religion!  Within  his  grasp  he  had  held  a  position 
of  wealth,  of  power,  of  fame !  He  scarcely  considered 
their  loss ;  and  in  the  ease  with  which  he  relinquished 
them,  he  knew  that  he  was  self-absolved  from  the 
charge  of  using  his  conscience  as  a  ladder  of  ambition ! 
If  personal  vanity  had  entered  into  his  desire  to  build 
the  new  cathedral,  it  had  been  incidental,  not  fundamen 
tal.  It  made  him  profoundly  happy  to  know  this  with 
positiveness. 

He  called  up  the  house  of  Jim  Sargent,  and  asked 
for  Gail. 

"  Come  over,"  he  invited  her.  "  I  want  to  see  you 
very  much.  I'm  in  the  church.  Come  in  through  the 
vestry." 

"  All  right,"  was  the  cheerful  reply.  "  I'll  be  there 
in  a  minute." 

He  had  been  very  sly !  He  was  tremendously 
pleased  with  himself!  He  had  kept  out  of  his  voice 
all  the  longing,  and  all  the  exultation,  and  all  the  love! 
He  would  not  trust  even  one  vibration  of  his  secret  to 
a  cold  telephone  wire! 

He  set  the  door  of  the  vestry  open  wide.  Within 
the  church,  the  organist  had  conquered  that  baffling 
run  in  the  mighty  prelude  of  Bach,  and  the  great  dim 
spaces  up  amid  the  arches  were  pulsing  in  ecstasy  with 
the  tremendous  harmony.  Outside,  upon  the  back- 


368  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

ground  of  the  celestial  strain,  there  rose  a  fluttering, 
a  twittering,  a  cooing.  The  doves  of  spring  had  re 
turned  to  the  vestry  yard. 

Just  a  moment  and  Gail  appeared,  poised  in  the  door 
way,  with  a  filmy  pink  scarf  about  her  shoulders,  a 
simple  frock  of  delicate  grey  upon  her  slender  figure, 
her  brown  hair  waving  about  her  oval  face,  a  faint 
flush  upon  her  cheeks,  her  brown  eyes  sparkling,  her 
red  lips  smiling  up  at  him. 

He  had  intended  to  tell  her  much,  but  instead,  he 
folded  her  in  his  arms,  and  she  nestled  there,  content. 
For  a  long,  happy  moment  they  stood,  lost  to  the  world 
of  thought ;  and  then  she  looked  up  at  him,  and  laughed. 

"  I  knew  it  from  your  voice,"  she  said. 

He  laughed  with  her;  then  he  grew  grave,  but  there 
was  the  light  of  a  great  happiness  in  his  gravity. 

"  I  have  resigned,"  he  told  her. 

That  was  a  part  of  what  she  had  known. 

"  And  not  for  me !  "  she  exulted.  It  was  not  a  ques 
tion.  She  saw  that  in  him  was  no  doubt,  no  quandary, 
no  struggle  between  faith  and  disbelief. 

"  I  see  my  way  clearly,"  he  smiled  down  at  her ;  "  and 
there  are  no  thorns  to  cut  for  me.  I  shall  never 
change." 

"  And  we  shall  walk  hand  in  hand  about  the  great 
est  work  in  the  world,"  she  softly  reminded  him,  and 
there  were  tears  in  her  eyes.  "  But  what  work  shall 
that  be,  Tod?"  She  looked  up  at  him  for  guidance, 
now. 

"  To  shed  into  other  lives  some  of  the  beauty  which 
blossoms  in  our  own,"  he  replied,  walking  with  her  into 
the  great  dim  nave,  where  the  shadows  still  quivered  with 
the  under-echoes  of  the  mighty  Bach  prelude.  "  I 
have  been  thinking  much  of  the  many  things  you  have 


HAND  IN  HAND  369 

said  to  me,"  he  told  her,  "  and  particularly  of  the  need, 
not  for  a  new  religion,  but  for  a  re-birth  of  the  old; 
that  same  new  impulse  towards  the  better  and  the 
higher  life  which  Christ  brought  into  the  world.  I 
have  been  thinking  on  the  mission  of  Him,  and  it  was 
the  very  mission  to  the  need  of  which  you  have  held  so 
firmly.  He  came  to  clear  away  the  thorns  of  creed 
which  had  grown  up  between  the  human  heart  and  God ! 
The  brambles  have  grown  again.  The  time  is  almost 
ripe,  Gail,  for  a  new  quickening  of  the  spirit;  for  the 
Second  Coming." 

She  glanced  at  him,  startled. 

"  For  a  new  voice  in  the  wilderness,"  she  wondered. 

"  Not  yet,"  he  answered.  "  We  have  signs  in  the 
hearts  of  men,  for  there  is  a  great  awakening  of  the 
public  conscience  throughout  the  world;  but  before  the 
day  of  harvest  arrives,  we  must  have  a  sign  in  the  sky. 
No  great  spiritual  revival  has  ever  swept  the  world 
without  its  attendant  supernatural  phenomena,  for 
mysticism  is  a  part  of  religion,  and  will  be  to  the  end 
of  time.  Reason,  by  the  very  nature  of  itself,  realises 
its  own  limitations,  and  demands  something  beyond  its 
understanding  upon  which  to  hang  its  faith.  It  is 
the  need  of  faith  which  distinguishes  the  soul  from  the 
mind." 

"  A  sign,"  mused  Gail,  her  eyes  aglow  with  the 
majesty  of  the  thought. 

"  It  will  come,"  he  assured  her,  with  the  calm  pre 
science  of  prophecy  itself.  "  As  no  great  spiritual  re 
vival  has  ever  swept  the  world  without  its  attendant 
supernatural  phenomena,  so  no  grerat  spiritual  revival 
has  ever  swept  the  world  without  its  concreted  symbol 
which  men  might  wear  upon  their  breasts.  The  cross ! 
What  shall  be  its  successor?  A  ball  of  fire  in  the  sky? 


370  THE  BALL  OF  FIRE 

Who  knows !  If  that  symbol  of  man's  spiritual  re 
juvenation,  of  his  renewed  nearness  to  God,  were,  in 
reality,  a  ball  of  fire,  Gail,  I  would  hold  it  up  in  the 
sight  of  all  mankind  though  it  shrivelled  my  arm !  " 

The  thin  treble  note  stole  out  of  the  organ  loft, 
pulsing  its  timid  way  among  the  high,  dim  arches,  as 
if  seeking  a  lodgment  where  it  might  fasten  its  tiny 
thread  of  harmony,  and  grow  into  a  song  of  new  glory, 
the  glory  which  had  been  born  that  day  in  the  two 
earnest  hearts  beneath  in  the  avenue  of  slender  col 
umns.  The  soft  light  from  one  of  the  clerestory  win 
dows  flooded  in  on  the  compassionate  Son  of  Man  above 
the  altar.  The  very  air  seemed  to  vibrate  with  the  new 
inspiration  which  had  been  voiced  in  the  old  Market 
Square  Church.  Gail  gazed  up  at  Smith  Boyd,  with 
the  first  content  her  heart  had  ever  known;  content  in 
which  there  was  both  earnestness  and  serenity,  to  re 
place  all  her  groping.  He*  met  her  gaze  with  eyes  in 
which  there  glowed  the  endless  love  which  it  is  be 
yond  the  power  of  speech  to  tell.  There  was  a  moment 
of  ecstasy,  of  complete  understanding,  of  the  perfect 
unity  which  should  last  throughout  their  lives.  In  that 
harmony,  they  walked  from  the  canopy  of  dim  arches, 
out  through  the  vestry,  and  beneath  the  door  above 
which  perched  the  two  grey  doves,  cooing.  For  an  in 
stant  Gail  looked  back  into  the  solemn  depths,  and  a 
wistfulness  came  into  her  eyes. 

"  The  ball  of  fire,"  she  mused.  "  When  shall  we  see 
it  in  the  sky  ?  " 


VAIL-BALLOU  CO.,    B1NGHAMTON   AND   NEW  YORK 


35 


A     000051  179     o 


